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PALMETTO STORIES 



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PALMETTO STORIES 



A READER FOR FIFTH GRADES 



BY 

CELINA E. MEANS 



WITH THE EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE OF 
WILLIAM H. HAND 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, CHESTER, S.C. 



J 3 J . 






' = J ^ -, ' J J ^ "» 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1903 

All rights reserved 



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OCT 26 1903 

CLASS ^ XXo. Wo. 
COP»Y B, 1 

1 I ll«l IIM^WIII I I 



Copyright, 1903, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up, electrotyped, and published October, 1903. 



••• •'• 






1^ 



J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

This little book is not a history of South 
Carolina. There are already several very 
scholarly histories of the state, but none is 
suited to elementary work. Recognition of 
the fact that there are many stories in its 
history well suited to interest young children, 
and to create in them pride for the noble 
achievements of their forefathers and love for 
their state, has induced the author to write 
this volume. The attempt has been made to 
give true accounts of a few of the men and 
women who have made the history of the 
state, and to give a correct picture of some 
of the conditions under which these men and 
women labored. 

Christopher Gadsden, John Rutledge, William 
Lowndes, John C. Calhoun, Ann Pamela Cun- 



VI PREFACE 

iiigliam, and others whose names appear m 
this volume, do not belong to South Carolma 
alone ; they served their country in a larger 
field. Yet it is sincerely to be hoped that 
the children of South Carolina, after reading 
about these men and women, will enter more 
eagerly into a study of the history of the 
state. 

The author Welshes to express her thanks to 
the Lothrop Publishing Company and to Mr. 
W. H. Hayne for permission to use Paul Ham- 
ilton Hayne's poem, '' McDonald's Raid." 

CELINA E. MEANS. 

Columbia, S.C, 

September, liK)3. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Port Royal 1 



CHAPTER n 
The English in Carolina 18 

CHAPTER ni 
The Coming of the Huguenots 26 

CHAPTER IV 
The Trials of the Immigrants 29 

CHAPTER V 
Landgrave Smith 37 

CHAPTER VI 

The Revolution of 1719 and the Royal Govern- 
ment ... 44 

CHAPTER VII 
A Notable Colonial Dame 48 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Catawba Indians 54 

vii 



Vlll CONTENTS 

chaptp:r IX 

PAGE 

The Armchaiu of Tustenuggee 65 

CHAPTER X 
The Cherokees 80 

CHAPTER XI 
A Story of Indian Warfare 94 

CHAPTER XII 
The Battle of Fort ]\Ioui.trie 104 

CHAPTER XIII 
Christopher Gadsden 112 

CHAPTER XIV 
Henry Laurens 122 

CHAPTER XV 
John Rutledge 131 

CHAPTER XVI 
Rawlins Lowndes . . 136 

CHAPTER XVII 
Francis Marion 140 

CPIAPTER XVIII 
McDonald's Raid 149 



CONTENTS IX 

CHAPTER XIX 



PAGE 



1 55 
Thomas Sumter 

CHAPTER XX 

1 R^ 

Andrew Pickens 

CHAPTER XXI 
Battle of King's Mountain 1'* 

CHAPTER XXII 
Ferguson's Defeat ....'••• ^°^ 

CHAPTER XXIII 
A Brave Woman: Rebecca Motte . . . -184 

CHAPTER XXIV 

Another Brave Woman: Emily Geiger . . -189 

CHAPTER XXV 
Emily Geiger's Ride ^^^ 

CHAPTER XXVI 
The War of 1812 ^^^ 

CHAPTER XXVII 
The Boat Chase ^ -""^ 



John C. Calhoun 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

. 218 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXIX 

PAGE 

Langdon Cheves 223 

CHAPTER XXX 
William Lowndes 227 

CHAPTER XXXI 
The Palmetto Regiment 232 

CHAPTER XXXn 
Butler and the Palmetto Regiment . . . 238 

CHAPTER XXXHI 
Ann Pamela Cuningham ...... 241 



PALMETTO STORIES 



PALMETTO STORIES 

I. PORT ROYAL 

It was in 1520 that Europeans first landed 
on the coast of what is now South Carolina. 
They were a band of mere adventurers under 
the leadership of a Spaniard named Velasquez. 
He found the native Indians friendly and hospi- 
table, but in return he acted with cruel treach- 
ery toward them. By means of gifts and 
pretenses of friendship he induced a number 
of them to go on board his vessels. He then 
set sail, intending to sell them as slaves. His 
base design, however, ended in failure. The 
captives refused to eat and died of starvation 
and grief. The crew quarreled among them- 
selves, the ship foundered, and the whole 
expedition went to pieces. 

Forty-two years later an attempt was made 



2 PALMETTO STORIES 

to colonize South Carolina. This attempt was 
made by a Frenchman. The unmediate cause 
of this undertaking was the violent quarrel 
in France between the Roman Catholics and 
the Protestants. The latter were called Hu- 
guenots. In France the Catholics were the 
stronger and had control of the government. 
To find the Protestants a place where they 
might worship God as they pleased, Admiral 
Coligny, a Frenchman of birth and position, 
conceived the idea of founding a colony in 
America. 

From Charles IX., then king of France, he 
obtained permission to do so. He was allowed 
to fit out two ships and two pinnaces for the 
expedition. Captain Jean Eibault was chosen 
commander. He took with him, besides the 
crew, a number of trained soldiers, together 
with many gentlemen interested in the under- 
taking. The plan was to select a suitable 
spot, fortify it, and then send back for the 
women and children. 



PORT ROYAL 3 

A few days before Christmas, 1561, a young 
fellow dressed in a black velvet suit with lace 
ruffles about the neck and wrists, walked 
briskly to the quay. Here a middle-aged 
man was giving orders m an energetic way 
to some laborers. The younger man stood 
patiently by, till presently the elder man, per- 
ceiving him, said kindly : '^ Ah, it is thou, 
Lachere. How art thou ? " 

"I am very well, I thank thee. Captain 
Ribault. I came to say that at last my uncle 
hath given his consent to my sailing with thee." 

" Hast thou well considered this ? Dost 
thou know that storms may arise in unknown 
seas ? savages attack us ? illness come to us 
in a wilderness ? yea, starvation perhaps ? " 

" I have considered all thou sayest ; yet 
there we may worship God in spirit and in 
truth. Are not the rack, and the fire of the 
stake as terrible as storms and savages?" 

" Well ; be it then as thou dost desire. 
Come with us, and God bless thee." 



4 PALMETTO 8T0RIES 

" If thou hast not a drummer-boy, Captain 
Eibault, there is a lad, one of my uncle's 
flock, a good drummer and anxious to go. 
His parents are dead, and Louis Croix, one of 
the ship's carpenters, is his only near kins- 
man." 

" Thank thee, Lachere ; I will inquire further 
into the matter. But away now ; I have no 
time to talk, for the cold winds have given 
several of the ship's carpenters lung trouble, 
and work lags sadly." 

A few weeks after this, in February, 1562, 
Ribault set sail for America. In the company 
he carried with him were Lachere and his 
young friend, Jean Croix, the drummer-boy. 
It was Jean who, sitting up in the rigging, 
caught the first sight of land as the ship 
approached America, and gave the welcome 
cry, " Land, ho ! " 

Ribault landed first on the coast of what is 
now Florida, at the mouth of the river now 
called St. Johns. He called the river May, 



PORT ROYAL 5 

it being the first day of May when he landed. 
In a few days, however, a storm drove the 
ships to sea for safety, and when calm was 
restored, the pinnaces were nowhere to be 
seen. Ribault, very anxious, sailed along the 
coast, fearing to find them wrecked. But 
thirty days after the storm, attracted by 
smoke, he put into a fine harbor and there 
found them safe. The harbor was so beauti- 
ful that he named it Port Eoyal. This name 
it still bears, though more than three hundred 
years have passed since the storm-driven pin- 
naces found shelter in its circling arms. 
After anchoring, the crew went on shore, 
where the Indians received them with gifts 
of game and fruit. Later, Kibault with some 
of his men went up the river which flows 
into the harbor, until they came to an island. 
Here they set up a stone pillar engraved with 
the arms of France and the date on which 
the expedition started. All the men stood in 
line while prayer w^as offered and a psalm 



b PALMETTO STORIES 

was sung. Then Ribault addressed his men 
as follows : — 

"My men, I have taken possession of this 
country. I have set up this stone which we 
brought from France, as a sign to others that 
the land is ours. Here I hope we shall build 
a new France, where no man may seek to 
hinder our consciences in what we consider 
God's true service. I propose to go back and 
tell those we left at home of the gentle, 
kindly Eed Men we have met. I shall tell 
them of the game, the fish, the birds, and the 
flowers — all waiting for those who come to 
these shores. Who will remain to care for 
the colony while I am gone ? " 

He had scarcely finished his speech when 
Lachere, Jean Croix the drummer-boy, and 
Louis Croix the ship's carpenter, followed by 
Nicholas Barrie, Albert de la Pierra, and 
twenty others, stepped from the ranks. All 
these declared themselves willing to remain 
while Ribault returned to France for the other 



PORT ROYAL 



colonists. These, assisted by the ship's crew, 
built and intrenched a fort which they called 
Fort Charles in honor of the king of France. 
Ribault then appointed Albert de la Pierra 
captain of the fort, and leaving a plentiful 
supply of provisions, sailed back to France. 

At first the prospects of the colony were 
excellent. Not only had they plenty of 
provisions and a good fort, but the Indians 
were friendly. These new neighbors were so 
friendly that on one occasion Andusta, one 
of their chiefs, invited the men at Fort 
Charles to attend a solemn religious festival 
to be held by his tribe. 

Lachere, in command of ten men, was given 
leave of absence for six days to attend it. 
The white men were somewhat taken aback. 
They found that the festival to which they 
had been asked was a strict fast. However, 
the manners and customs of the Indians and 
their strange religious ceremonies interested 
them. They remained three days without 



8 PALMETTO STORIES 

complaint, though without a mouthful of food. 
But it may be safe to suppose that they were 
very willing to return to the camp before 
the six days of leave expired. 

As they marched homeward they discussed 
their hosts and their late experiences. 

" It is a marvel to me," said Louis Croix, 
" how these Red Men fast worse than the 
priests at home." 

'' Yes ; " answered Nicholas Barrie, " and 
how they howl and dance, and dance and 
howl again, and jump up so strongly on empty 
stomachs, is a wonder." 

" By St. Dennis ! " said Jean Croix, " I believe 
I could eat a polecat. Andusta says they are 
good. Art thou not hungry enough to eat one ? " 

^' That's a little too much for me," returned 
Nicholas Barrie, with a laugh. 

But Jean's brother Louis said gravely, 
" Thou must not use oaths, Jean. Thou didst 
call St. Dennis's name irreverently. I do not 
hold to making prayer to him, but he was 



PORT ROYAL 9 

a man of God and is not to be spoken 
of lightly." This rebuke confused Jean. He 
was devoted to his brother and Louis loved 
the lad with warm tenderness. 

Jean loved the wild life of the woods. He 
had given his brother anxiety more than once 
by roaming abroad without permission, thus 
displeasing De la Pierra. The captain of the 
fort was naturally a stern man. The time 
fixed for the return of Ribault had passed 
without bringing him or any news of him, 
and De la Pierra had become fitful and 
gloomy in temper, inijust, and unduly severe 
in enforcing discipline. 

Lachere did his best at all times to cheer 
the garrison and to maintain discipline. One 
morning as he stood near the entrance of the 
fort, Jean Croix came out with fishing tackle 
on his arm. '' Jean," he said, " do not stay 
out beyond an hour by the sun. Captain de 
la Pierra is already displeased with thee ; he 
is very gloomy and unhappy of late." 



10 PALMETTO STORIES 

" Monsieur Lacliere, thou knowest Captain 
de la Pierra is a tyrant/' said the drummer- 
boy, bitterly. 

^'Nay, nay, Jean, speak not so. Thou 
knowest well that a garrison like ours, but 
for obedience, would soon come to naught." 

"It will come to naught. Men will not 
always bear with Captain de la Pierra's 
cruelty; he is unmerciful. God will surely 
judge him ! I was lost that day I was late ; 
but he would not receive my excuse, and had 
me flogged so that for days I could not move. 
But for thee and my brother, I should go to 
the Red Men, less savage than he, and never 
return to the fort." 

'^ Jean, Jean, think on thy soul. Join not 
thyself to the heathen." But the drummer- 
boy went on without further remark. 

Louis Croix was absent on a mission to 
Andusta for corn. Of fish, venison, and wild 
fowl there was abundance, but the garrison 
hungered for bread. Jean was sorely tempted 



PORT ROYAL 11 

to go to the Indians, but the thought of 
his brother's grief at his doing so held him 
back. He walked on thoughtfully through the 
pathless woods. Finally he said to himself, 
" I shall go back to the fort to-night, but if 
Captain de la Pierra continues his severity, 
I shall leave and not come back to the fort 
until Captain Eibault returns." 

Just as he reached this conclusion he came 
to a beautiful lagoon. He sat down, and 
soon in the delight of his luck in fishing for- 
got his bitter thoughts. The hours passed 
unheeded, and the sun had sunk nearly to 
the horizon before he started back to the fort. 
He was not sure of the trail, and darkness 
came before he reached home. 

Lachere had watched with sad forebodings 
for Jean's return. When the hour for taps ^ 
had come, he had himself beaten the drum 
in the hope that De la Pierra might not 
observe the absence of Jean. But De la 

^ A signal on a drum to soldiers to put out lights. 



12 PALMETTO STORIES 

Pierra's ear detected the substitute. At sun- 
rise the next morning poor little Jean Croix 
was hanged for neglect of duty and disobedi- 
ence. Lachere, too, was arrested and sent in 
a boat with eight days' provisions, to be left 
on a desert island. 

When Louis Croix returned to the camp 
the next day and was told what had been 
done, he was overwhelmed with grief. The 
whole garrison was in sympathy with him. 
The men were already in a state of indigna- 
tion and resentment at the severities of De la 
Pierra. This feeling so increased that they 
held a secret council, and decided on his 
death as the only means by which they could 
be freed from his tyranny. Neither date nor 
method for the execution of this design was 
fixed. But on the ninth day after the hang- 
ing of Jean Croix and the banishment of 
Lachere, as Louis Croix and Nicholas Barrie 
were hewing a log into shape for a beam, De 
la Pierra came walking by. He did not 



PORT ROYAL 13 

appear to see them, but stopped within a 
few feet of Louis Croix and looked moodily 
out to sea. Suddenly, with a quick bound, 
Louis, springing to De la Pierra's side, swung 
the ax and clove his head in two down to 
his shoulders. As the captain's body fell to 
the ground, Nicholas started forward in horror, 
exclaiming, " Louis Croix, man, what hast thou 
done ? " 

" What thou shouldst have done last week 
when my poor Jean was murdered ; what 
had to be done, Nicholas Barrie, to save 
Lachere from starvation on yon lonely island." 

The men at once elected Nicholas Barrie 
captain of the garrison. As quickly as pos- 
sible a boat was sent to rescue Lachere. A 
council was held to decide on the future 
course of the men at Fort Charles. The 
belief of all was that Kibault would not 
return, and all hope of founding a colony 
had died out of their hearts. It was deter- 
mined, therefore, to try to return to 



14 PALMETTO STORIES 

France. Lachere alone protested against snch 
an undertaking. 

" We are going home, monsieur," said 
Louis Croix. " Captain Ribault is dead or 
has deserted us. It is useless for us to re- 
main here." 

"Ribault has not deserted us," said Lachere 
firmly. " I fear there is civil war in France 
between the Catholics and the Huguenots, 
and he cannot leave to come to us." 

" So much the more reason," said Nicliolas 
Barrie gravely, "for us to return. We belong 
to our wives and children. We should be in 
France to shield them from harm, if we 
may ; if we may not shield them, then to die 
with them." 

" But how can we get to France ? " remon- 
strated Lachere. " We have no vessel, and 
the sea is wide." 

" I have built vessels," returned Louis 
Croix, undaunted. "The forest is full of 
timber, the pine trees will give us resin, and 



PORT KOYAL 15 

the oaks will give us moss with which to 
calk the seams. Our sheets and shirts will 
make sails. Audusta has promised me rope ; 
the Red Men make it. from the inner bark of 
certain trees and from grass." 

So the matter was settled, and all energies 
were turned to building a vessel to carry 
them to France. When completed, it was 
well stocked with provisions and ammunition. 
The food carried seemed to Lachere not 
enough for such a voyage as they were under- 
taking. Louis Croix and Nicholas Barrie 
thought it was, and that it would be unwise 
to put greater weight on the vessel. Accord- 
ingly the weight was not increased. All 
things being ready, the colonists set off with 
high hopes. 

For one third of the voyage all went well. 
Then a calm befell ; there was no wind to fill 
the sails, and for days the vessel made no 
progress. The provisions that under usual 
conditions would have been enough for the 



16 palmi:tto stories 

voyage, ran low. Twelve grains of millet a 
day was the allowance for each man. Finally 
this failed, and starvation stared them in the 
face. It was then that Lachere, speaking 
aside in low tones to Captain Barrie, said : 
" Let me be killed for food for the men. It 
is best that one die for the many." 

" No ! no ! " cried Barrie, in horror. But 
when Lachere continued to urge his request, 
Barrie begged him to wait at least three days, 
as in that time succor might come. The 
three days passed, but brought no relief. 
Again Lachere urged his request that he be 
permitted to die for his friends. This time 
Captain Barrie, now Avithoat any hope of 
rescue, and knowing that either one or all 
on board the vessel must be lost, told the 
starving, half-crazed men what Lachere had 
requested. 

When he made the announcement, an awful 
silence fell. Then Louis Croix said solemnly, 
*^Let us cast lots." 



PORT ROYAL 17 

The lots were drawn and the fatal number 
fell to Lachere. He lifted his eyes to heaven 
and murmured reverently, " My God, I thank 
Thee." Then turning to the men whose lives 
he was about to save by giving up his own, 
he said : — 

" My comrades, you saved me from the 
horrors of starvation on that desert island ; 
to save you I gladly give the life you saved." 
Then once more lifting his eyes to heaven 
and saying, " God, I thank Thee that Thou 
hast found me worthy to die that these may 
live," he calmly and bravely met his fate. 

Barrie's party was rescued by an English 
vessel and taken to England. When the men 
reached home, they found that civil war in 
France between the Catholics and the Protes- 
tants had broken out. Ribault could not 
return as he intended to do. He had not 
deserted the colony. But his attempt to 
establish a home for the Huguenots had 
failed. 



II. THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA 

More than a hundred years after the 
French built the fort at Port Royal, Charles 
II. of England granted to some English 
gentlemen the land we call North and South 
Carolina. The gentlemen to whom the grant 
of land was made were called Lords Proprie- 
tors. They were the Earl of Clarendon, the 
Duke of Albemarle, the Earl of Craven, Lord 
John Berkeley, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Sir 
George Carteret, Sir John Colleton, and Sir 
William Berkeley. The province was to be 
called Carolina^ in honor of the king. It 
was to be governed by a constitution drawm 
up by the Earl of Shaftesbury and the great 
philosopher John Locke. The eldest of the 
Lords Proprietors was to have the title of 

1 From Carolus, the Latin name for Charles. 
18 



THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA 19 

Palatine. Other titles of nobility were to 
be given to large landholders. The Proprietors 
made liberal promises in order to get suitable 
men for their settlements. They selected a 
good man, William Sayle, as governor of the 
province, and provided whatever was necessary 
in beginning life in a new land. Men of good 
families were thus induced to join the expedi- 
tion to the New World. 

In January, 1670, three hundred colonists 
sailed in their three ships for Port Royal. 
This was the site that had been chosen for 
the colony. But the Spaniards at St. Augus- 
tine, Florida, so threatened and annoyed them 
that Governor Sayle thought it best to remove 
his feeble colony from so bad neighbors. 
Accordingly, not long after the colonists landed, 
he took them to the west bank of the Ashley 
River. This place, however, proved unhealthful. 
In a few years they were again moved, this time 
to the mouth of the Ashley River, and placed 
on the east bank of the Ashley at its junc- 



20 



PALMETTO STORIES 



tiou with the Cooper River. Tliis settlement, 
whicli they named Charlestown, is now the 
city of Charleston. 

A part of the country around was called 
Chicora. Its chief tribe of Indians, the Yam- 




An Early Settler's Home. 

assees, consisted of the Kussoes, the Edistoes, 
the Santees, and the Kiawhas. 

Many of the younger sons of Englishmen 
were encouraged by the Lords Proprietors to 



THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA 21 

settle in the new land. They established 
themselves on large plantations in the coun- 
try about Charleston. Some of these large 
landholders were given the title of Landgrave ; 
others were given the title of Cacique. Their 
houses, like those of most early settlers, were 
built of logs. They were made massive and 
strong for defense against the Indians, and 
were well provided with arms and ammuni- 
tion, for there was always danger of attack 
from these savages. 

For a long time, however, the Indians were 
usually friendly toward the settlers. The 
whites, less and less on their guard, began 
to feel at home, and to enjoy the beautiful 
woods, the lovely waters, and the plentiful 
game. Traders to the up-country for furs 
often lived with the savages for months. 
The furs got from the Indians for blankets, 
beads, firearms, and liquor brought large 
sums of money in England. 

But this happy condition of things did not 



22 PALMETTO STORIES 

last. After a while the Indians, seeing the 
whole seacoast in possession of the English 
and the game less plentiful, became dissatis- 
fied. Their discontent and gloom were in- 
creased by their growing habit of drunkenness, 
and by the fact that the whites no longer 
made them many presents. Added to all this, 
the Spaniards tried continually to stir up 
strife between the Indians and the English. 
They even promised San tee, chief of the Yam- 
assees, to help him, if lie would take the 
warpath against the English. A writer of 
that time says, " We gathered oysters with 
one hand and kept our arms in the other." 

Up to this time there had been no great 
war with the Indians, though nearly fifty 
years had passed since the English had settled 
on the Ashley River. Now, however, the 
Yamassees suddenly attacked the planters, mas- 
sacred several families, and destroyed the 
growing crops. Some families, warned by 
friendly Indians, were able to defend them- 



THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA 23 

selves, while some escaped to Charleston. 
But few were prepared to offer resistance. 

It was fortunate that South Carolina now 
had the ready-witted, resolute Charles Craven 
for governor. He proclaimed martial law, 
allowed no able-bodied man to leave Charles- 
ton, and no provisions to be carried out of 
it. He then organized an army consisting of 
the citizens of the town, the men from the plan- 
tations, some friendly North Carolina Indians, 
and the negro slaves. 

By the time he had done this, the Indians 
had pushed on almost to Charleston. Bat 
as they did not wdsh a pitched battle until 
the Spanish soldiers should come, they fell 
back until they were twenty miles or more 
from the town. Santee had as an adviser 
Chigilla, a Creek chief, who with a strong band 
of warriors had joined the Yamassees. He 
advised Santee to give battle. " I do not 
believe," he said, "that the Spaniards are 
coming. They have deceived us. But I be- 



24 PALMETTO STORIES 

lieve we shall be victorious ; let us fight, for 
the braves are getting restless." 

In the meantime, while the Indians were 
thus busy, Governor Craven was not idle. 
Acting on the information brought by his 
well-trained scouts, he pitched his camp about 
a mile from that of the Indians. His main 
force lay in the hollow of a somewhat open 
wood, but a number of his best marksmen 
were hidden among some thick trees on the 
side of his tents next to the enemy. 

At daybreak the Creeks and the Yam- 
assees, giving the war whoop, ran forward, 
directing their shots at the English tents. 
With tomahawk in hand they rushed past 
the hidden marksmen, and upon the main 
force of Craven's men. The white men 
answered the savage war whoop with a wild 
yell, and followed this by firing on the 
Indians from the rear. The Indians were 
greatly surprised and disconcerted. One 
moment they wavered, but, made desperate 



THE ENGLISH IN CAROLINA 25 

by the situation, they rallied and pressed on. 
Santee and Chigilla led them with shouts of 
encouragement. 

Then the battle raged. The Yamassees, 
driven back on one side, turned fiercely to 
another. They fought madly. The death of 
Chigilla, so far from discouraging them, only 
increased their fury, and with a howl of 
frenzy they rushed forward to avenge him. 
The battle lasted two hours after the death 
of Chigilla. The white men fought with, as 
great persistence as the Indians, and with far 
greater coolness. They followed their plan of 
battle, while the Indians were unable to 
follow their own, on account of the unexpected 
attack from the rear. Beaten back again and 
again, they turned and fled, the negroes 
pursuing them and killing even the wounded 
without mercy. 

This battle established the supremacy of the 
whites in South Carolina. The Yamassees 
were never again a great tribe. 



III. THE COMING OF THE HUGUENOTS 

The persecution of the Protestants in 
France, which led Ribault to settle Port 
Royal, had grown more and more severe. 
To escape it, French families had from time 
to time come to the province of Carolina. 
The favorable reports sent back by them, 
together with the kindness of the English, 
encouraged others to follow their example. 

In 1685, Charles II., king of England, sent 
over to the province at his own expense forty- 
five French refugees. This colony bought lands 
from the Santee Indians, and established 
themselves on the Cooper River. With these 
Indians they lived on terms of remarkable 
friendship. 

In 1689, nineteen years after the founding 
of Charleston, one hundred and eighty families 

26 



THE COMING OF THE HUGUENOTS 27 

of Huguenots came over from France, and 
settled on the Santee River. 

More than fifty years later another colony 
of Huguenots settled in Carolina; this time, 
however, in the upper part of the state, in 
what is now Abbeville county. They called 
their settlement New Bordeaux. 

The Huguenots were in every respect good 
citizens. Regarding Carolina as their home, 
they identified themselves with its people, and 
respected its laws. Although they were per- 
mitted to conduct their religious services in 
their own language till they could better learn 
the English language, they did not encourage 
their children to speak French. 

No element of Carolina's population was 
more influential in the development of the state 
than the Huguenots. By their misfortunes and 
sufferings they were taught regard for the rights 
and feelings of others. Hence they made the 
best of friends and the kindest of neighbors. 
Temperate, orderly, and industrious, they man- 



28 PALMETTO STORIES 

aged their affairs with such skill that they 
outstripped even the Enghsh in the making of 
fortunes. Although they had been brought up 
surrounded by luxury, they made their houses 
plain and their manner of Hving simple. At 
the same time they gave to the manners and 
customs of their new home the refinement and 
elegance that had belonged to their life in the 
Old World. This refinement has always been 
a mark of the best South Carolina society. 
Among the descendants of the Huguenots are 
many of the state's representative families, and 
many of the men distinguished for service to 
the state. For instance, Francis Marion, Henry 
Laurens, Hugh S. Legare, and James L. Peti- 
gru were of Huguenot descent. 



IV. THE TRIALS OF THE IMMIGRANTS 

Among the various sources from winch we 
learn about the life of the early colonists, 
none are more vivid or interesting than 
family letters. Two of these, one by Judith 
Manigault to her brother, the other by Robert 
Witherspoon, are of much value. These 
letters give a good idea of the trials of the 
first settlers of the country, as well as telling 
what made the people of Europe leave their 
native land for one unknown. 

Judith Manigault writes as follows : — 

"During eight months we had suffered 
from the quartering of the soldiers on us, 
and many other hardships. We therefore re- 
solved on quitting France, and did so at 
night, abandoning our furniture and leaving 

29 



30 PALMETTO STORIES 

the soldiers in our beds. We liid ourselves at 
Romans and Daupliiny while a search was 
made for us, but our hostess was faithful and 
did not betray us. We passed on to Lyons, 
to Metz, to Treves, to Holland, and to Eng- 
land, and then to Carolina. 

" We suffered every kind of misfortune : 
the red fever broke out on the ship and 
many of our party died of it, among them 
our aged mother. We touched at the islands 
of Bermuda, where the vessel that carried us 
was seized. We spent all our money there, 
and it was with difficulty that we procured 
passage on another ship. New misfortunes 
awaited us in Carolina. At the end of eight- 
een months we lost our eldest brother from 
the unusual fatigue that all had to undergo. 
We endured all it was possible to endure. I 
was six months without tasting bread, work- 
ing besides like a slave. For three or four 
years I never had enough food to satisfy the 
hunger that devoured me. And yet God 



THE TRIALS OF THE IMMIGRANTS 31 

accomplished great things in our favor, giving 
us strength necessary to support these trials." 

It is interesting to know that Gabriel 
Manigault, the son of this lady, became so 
rich that he lent two hundred and twenty 
thousand dollars to the Continental Congress 
to carry on the War for Independence. 

About the middle of the eighteenth century, 
a new element was introduced into the popu- 
lation of Carolina. The Irish began to come 
in large numbers. Indeed, for a good while 
hardly a vessel entered the port of Charles- 
ton without brin eying; some of them. Robert 
Witherspoon, one of these Irish immigrants, in 
a letter dated 17o4, says : — 

^^We went on shipboard the 14th of Sep- 
tember. The second day of our sail my 
grandmother died, and we buried her in the 
ocean. We were sorely tossed at sea by 
storms that caused our ship to spring a leak ; 



32 PALMETTO STORIES 

the ship's pumps were kept constantly at 

work day and night. But it pleased God to 

bring us safe to land about the first of 
December." 

Here follows an account of the setting out 
of the Irish for their new homes on the 
Santee River : — 

" We landed in Charlestown three weeks 
before Christmas. We found the inhabitants 
very kind. We stayed in town till after 
Christinas. Then we were put on open boats, 
with tools and a year's provisions, and one 
still mill. ^ Each hand of sixteen years or 
over was allowed one ax, one broad hoe, 
and one narrow hoe. Our provisions were 
Indian corn, rice, wheaten flour, beef, pork, 
rum, and salt. 

" We were much distressed by the passage 
on open boats. It was the dead of winter, 

^ A hand mill similar to a coffee mill, used for grinding 
coarse meal. 



THE TRIALS OF THE IMMIGRANTS 33 

and day and night we were exposed to the 
severe weather. We were put out at Potatoe 
Ferry, where we stayed in a barn until our 
provisions and goods were carried to Kings- 
tree. The men went up to see about making 
dirt houses for us to hve in. The woods' 
were full of w^ater, and the bitter cold was 
hard on the women and children. 

" My mother and the children thought that 
when we came to the bluft' where lived our 
friend, who had come out the year before, 
we should find a nice house of timber, with 
a fireplace. But there was nothing but a 
wilderness and a mean dirt house. 

" My father gave us all the comfort he 
could, telling us more people would come, we 
should get all the trees cut down, and have 
houses near enough to see from one to the 
other. To add to our troubles, the fire we 
had brought from Big Swamp went out.^ 

1 The swamps in which the low country abounded. 

2 This was before the invention of sulphur matches. 



34 PALMETTO STORIES 

Father had heard that up the swamp was the 
king's tree} Although there was no path, he 
followed up the swamp till he came to the 
branch, where he found Roger Gordon's house, 
and got some fire. When father left, we 
watched him as far as we could see him 
through the trees, and felt that we should 
never see him or any other living human 
behig again. When evening came on, the 
wolves began to howl on all sides, and we 
were afraid of being devoured by the wild 
beasts. We had no gun, no dog, and no door 
to our hut, but we went to work picking up 
fuel to make a big fire by which to pass the 
night. 

" We were much hindered getting our 
goods. There was no way to carry beds, 
chests, provisions, tools, and pots, but on the 
backs of men. There were no roads, and 
every family had to travel as they could. 

1 In the land grant all white pine trees were to be reserved 
for the king. The county town of Williamsburg thus received 
its name, Kingstree. 



THE TRIALS OF THE IMMIGRANTS 35 

They had to follow swamps and branches as 
guides. Some of the men soon got to know 
the woods, and blazed paths through them. 
Our people were strong and healthy, and 
worked hard clearing fields and planting them 
for provisions for the next year. The range 
was so good that we had no need to feed 
cows and pigs. 

" I remember the first thing my father got 
from the boat was his gun. He loaded the 
gun with some shot. One morning we were 
at breakfast when my mother cried out, 
' Here is a great bear ! ' Mother and the 
children hid behind a chest and some barrels ; 
father got his gun and shot the supposed 
bear. It proved to be a 'possum. The shot 
made it open its mouth and grin frightfully. 
Father wanted to shoot again, but had mis- 
laid his shot. So he stayed penned up some 
time. Then he ventured out and killed the 
'possum with a pole. In our first settling we 
had a great many anxieties. We were afraid 



36 PALMETTO STORIES 

of being bitten by snakes, or torn by wild 
beasts, or massacred by the Indians, or of 
being lost and perishing in the woods." 

The experiences related in these letters give 
us a glimpse of the life of the early settlers, 
but only a glimpse. It is almost impossible, 
in this day of safe and comfortable living, to 
understand fully the privations and perils to 
which our ancestors were subjected in their 
pioneer life. But we may well look back 
with pride on their courage in danger, and 
their fortitude under suffering. We admire 
the industry, the patience, and the resolution 
they showed at all times. 



V. LANDGRAVE SMITH 

In 1687 there came to Carolina a man who 
exercised a most important influence on its 
development. This was Thomas Smith, or 
Landgrave Smith, as he is known in the his- 
tory of the state. He was an English gentle- 
man who had previously lived some time on 
the island of Madagascar. He was not long 
in the colony before his ability and character 
began to give him prominence in public 
aifairs. He was twice appointed governor of 
the province by the Lords Proprietors. Later 
he was made Landgrave, receiving at the 
same time the forty-eight thousand acres of 
land given with this title. Though not popu- 
lar with the people, he was in more than one 
way the benefactor of the colony. 

The introduction of the present jury system 

37 



38 PALMETTO STORIES 

of the state is said to be due to him. Up to 
his coming the sheriff selected the jurymen, 
but Landgrave Smith, knowing that this 
method gave opportunity to dishonest men 
to pack the jury/ undertook to change it. 
His plan was to place the names of all the 
freemen in a box, and from this a boy under 
ten years of age was to draw out, one by 
one, the names of twenty-^four persons. From 
these names twelve men were selected to 
serve as the jury. 

This much needed reform in the courts of 
justice was not the only improvement intro- 
duced by him into the colony. South Caro- 
lina owes to him the introduction of rice 
culture. While in Madagascar he had seen 
rice growing, and he felt sure that the soil 
and climate of Carolina were adapted to its 
growth. 

Chance gave him the opportunity of test- 

1 To select men who are to decide in a way determined 
before the trial. 



LANDGRAVE SMITH 39 

ing his belief. The captain of a vessel 
from Madagascar, putting into the port of 
Charleston for repairs, called on Landgrave 
Smith. The latter found the captain an old 
acquaintance ; he returned the call, and spoke 
of his intention to try the cultivation of rice, 
if he could get the seed. The captain luckily 
had on board a small bag of rice, which he 
gave him. This the Landgrave sowed in his 
garden and cultivated with the greatest care. 
He saved every grain of the small crop, and 
distributed the seed among his friends for 
further experiment. 

Landgrave Smith was said to be the father 
of twenty-two children. A man Avith so 
numerous a family might well be interested in 
a food product of so much value as rice. 

Rice soon became the staple commodity of 
South Carolina. Before the end of the seven- 
teenth century it was not only the chief ex- 
port, but the source of great wealth to the 
colony. At one time a rice tax was levied 



40 



PALMETTO STORIES 



with which the colony met all public dues. 
In 1755, by the advice of Governor Glen, rice 
orders were made legal in payment of taxes 
and of debts of every kind. These orders 




Rice Field. 

could be used even in the purchase of land 
and of negro slaves. 

The use of some substitute for banknotes 
was necessary and usual in the colonies before 
the establishment of banks. In Virginia this 
substitute was tobacco ; in the New England 



LANDGRAVE SMITH 41 

states, cattle ; in some other states, wool ; in 
South Carolina it was rice. 

While the introduction of rice culture was 
of great advantage to Carolina, it was not an 
unmixed blessing. The swamp lands on which 
the grain had to be cultivated were so un- 
healthful that the white people could not work 
in them ; they did not seem to hurt the 
negroes, however. This led to a large impor- 
tation of negro slaves. Soon the blacks 
outnumbered the whites to such an extent 
that they were regarded as a menace to the 
safety of the community. Especially, as many 
of the slaves were dissatisfied and unhappy, 
there was danger of revolt. 

But this was not the only trouble. The 
crops planted on swamp lands were often de- 
stroyed by freshets, entailing great loss on the 
planters. Every effort was made to protect 
the crops, but upwards of two hundred years 
passed before complete success was won and 
rice culture became possible under the most 



42 PALMETTO STORIES 

profitable conditions. This success was won by 
Colonel Samuel Porcher. He built embankments 
on his plantation, like the dikes of Holland, for 
the protection of the land against the freshets. 

All lionor must be given to Colonel Por- 
cher for laboring so hard vmder discourage- 
ment. His neighbors believed tliat he could 
not succeed, and ridiculed his efforts ; but 
he did not lose heart or relax his efforts. 
He promised freedom to his driver (the negro 
foreman of the plantation), if he would do 
his best to forward the work. For thirty 
years, master, overseer, and driver worked 
steadily, putting every moment that could be 
spared from the other plantation work, to 
building up the embankments. 

Before the War between the States, all 
along the coast of South Carolina and the 
islands fringing it were beautiful fields of 
rice, and Carolina rice was considered the 
finest in the world. Ditches were cut through 
the fields, and flood gates were provided by 



LANDGRAVE SMITH 43 

which water could be let in or out at will. 
The best farm hand on the place was chosen 
to scatter the seed. The fields were then 
covered with water till the seed sprouted. 
The water was then drawn off, the crop hoed, 
and the fields were flooded again for two or 
three days in order to kill the grass. Thus 
with great care the plants were alternately 
hoed and overflowed. For about three months 
the water was kept on the fields most of the 
time, but was drawn off every few days for 
the piu-pose of letting in fresh water. 

The disorder that followed the freeing of 
the negroes ruined many of the planters. 
However, the cultivation of rice on a profitable 
basis was resumed, and in 1899 South Caro- 
lina produced twenty-three million bushels. 
Artesian wells are now being used for irriga- 
tion, and the crop is no longer confined to 
the coast. At present rice is cultivated in 
tbe interior of the state as far up as Abbe- 
ville, Fairfield, and Spartanburg counties. 



VI. THE REVOLUTION OF 1719 AND 
THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT 

The Lords Proprietors, when they asked 
King Charles for their grant of land, said 
that they wished to make Christians of the 
heathen Indians. They promised also to 
build churches for the colonists, and castles 
and forts to protect the people. None of 
these promises were carried out. Indeed, their 
government was by no means satisfactory to 
the people, who felt that they had several 
grievances. 

One of these grievances was the refusal of 
the Lords Proprietors to confirm the grants 
of land allotted by the Colonial Assembly to 
all who would settle in the up-country. 
These settlements would have been in every 
way helpful to the province. Another griev- 

44 



THE REVOLUTION OF 1719 45 

ance was that they took no sufficient meas- 
ures to suppress the pirates who lay in wait 
for the ships coming and going between the 
province and Europe. These pirates robbed 
the ships and often destroyed them, and kept 
all travelers on the sea in continual terror. 

In addition to these troubles, the men sent 
out as governors by the Lords Proprietors 
looked with contempt on the people whom 
they were to govern. They took no pains 
to understand the needs of the province, and, 
indeed, let things go pretty much as they 
would. These evils continued till the people, 
feeling them to be unbearable, in 1719 ap- 
pealed to the king. They begged him to 
deprive the Lords Proprietors of their charter, 
and to appoint the colonial governors himself. 

It is worthy of note that from their earliest 
existence as a community, the people of Caro- 
lina, like most of the colonists, have stoutly 
resisted injustice and oppression. On this 
occasion, however, there was difference of 



46 PALMETTO STOEIES 

opinion in regard to the wisdom of the appeal 
to the king. Some prominent men of the 
southern part of the province opposed the 
step. One of them, Colonel William Rhett, 
said, " If this thing is not nipped in the bud, 
the people will next set up against the king 
himself." Indeed, the people did that very 
thing when the king oppressed them. But 
we shall hear more of tliat later. 

The people of the northern part of the 
province had not suffered so much from the 
neglect of the Lords Proprietors. Hence they 
used their influence against the appeal to the 
king. This difference of opinion finally led 
to the division of the province into North and 
South Carolina. The matter of the complaint 
against the Lords Proprietors was settled by 
the king buying back the province from them. 

The troubles of this unhappy time were 
further increased by the negro slaves. There 
were now more negroes than white people in 
the southern province, and many of the ne- 



THE REVOLUTIOX OF 1719 47 

groes were discontented. Besides, the Span- 
iards used every means and opportunity to 
incite them to revolt against their masters. 
They succeeded in a measure, for a number of 
the slaves determined to be free, banded 
themselves together, and attacked the white 
people. Several persons were killed, but 
Governor Bull called out the militia, and the 
insurrection was soon put down. 

The first royal governors sent out were 
not much better than those sent by the 
Lords Proprietors. But in spite of bad gov- 
ernment and other troubles, the colony grew, 
and with the coming of Governor Glen, en- 
tered upon a career of real prosperity. 



VII. A NOTABLE COLONIAL DAME 

In the time of the Lords Proprietors, Land- 
grave Smith, by the introduction of rice cul- 
ture, gave to South Carolina a staple crop 
that proved a source of great wealth. In the 
time of the royal governors, Eliza Lucas, one 
of the most notable of colonial women, gave 
to the colony another source of wealth. This 
was the cultivation of indigo. 

Miss Lucas was the daughter of George 
Lucas, an Englishman who, in 1738, came to 
Carolina for his wife's health. He bought a 
plantation, but soon after, having been ap- 
pointed governor of Antigua, one of the 
West India Islands, he left for his new post. 
As his wife's health could not stand the 
West Indian climate, he left her and his 
daughters in Carolina. 

48 



A NOTABLE COLONIAL DAME 49 

Eliza, who was seventeen years old, seems 
to have been left in charge of everything. 
The success of her management proves her 
father's wisdom in putting her at the head 
of affairs. Fond of dress, society, and amuse- 
ment, as was natural to one of her age, 
beauty, and station, yet she attended strictly 
to the duties of her position. She cared for 
her invalid mother, taught her sister, and 
conducted the business of the plantation. 

Her letters of one hundred and fifty years 
ago have been preserved. We quote from 
one telling of her home and manner of life : 

" We are," says she, " seventeen miles from 
Charlestown by land and six by water. 
There are six agreeable families around us, 
with whom we live in great harmony. I 
have a library, for my papa left me most of 
his books. My music and the garden take 
up the spare time that is not given to books. 
I have the business of three plantations to 
transact, which requires more writing and 



50 PAOIETTO STORIES 

fatigue than you can imagine; but by rising 
early I find that I can get through my busi- 
ness." 

In another letter she tells that she gets up 
at five o'clock, and sees that the servants are 
at their tasks. Then, after breakfast, she has 
time to practice her music, study her French, 
instruct her little sister, and teach some little 
negroes how to read. 

As the young girl was fond of Nature, and 
took special interest in the study of plants, 
her father often sent her, from Antigua, 
seeds with whicli to experiment. Among 
these was indio;o. 

The composition of dye colors was not 
known then as now, and dyestuffs were 
costly. Blue was a favorite color, and indigo 
was the prettiest, as well as the most unfad- 
ing, blue. There was therefore j)romise of 
great profit if indigo could be successfully 
cultivated. 

Eliza determined to undertake the task. 



A NOTxVBLE COLONIAL DAME 51 

The first time, she sowed the seed too early, 
and the plants were killed by the frost ; the 
next time, they were cut down by the boll- 
worms ; in the third attempt, however, she 
succeeded. " I wrote to my father," she 
says, " of the pains I had taken to bring the 
indigo, ginger, cotton, lucerne, and cassava to 
perfection. I have more hope of the indigo 
than of the rest of the things." 

The efforts of Miss Lucas with indigo were 
not ended when she succeeded in growing it. 
Extracting the juice and reducing it to a 
solid form was the next proljlem she had to 
solve. The process was tedious and required 
great care. Her father had sent out an ex- 
pert indigo maker to instruct her, but the 
man purposely spoiled the dye. She had 
watched him closely through the whole pro- 
cess, and had seen that he did not act hon- 
estly. So she employed other help and tried 
again. This time she was rewarded with 
good indigo. 



52 PALMETTO STORIES 

On the marriage of Miss Lucas to Judge 
Charles Pinckney, her father gave her as a 
bridal present all the indigo she had raised. 
She distributed the seed among her friends. 
Soon indigo culture was established in the 
colony, and in six years the product had be- 
come one of Carolina's exports. 

Mrs. Pinckney was a woman of rare intelli- 
gence, culture, and energy. In her busy life 
she found the time to experiment in silk- 
raising. She was successful in this venture. 
When her husband was sent to England as 
commissioner of the colony, she had made 
enough raw silk to have woven four dresses. 
One of these she presented to King George ; 
one to the Princess of Wales ; one to Lord 
Chesterfield, who had been very kind to the 
colony ; and the other she wore herself when 
she was presented at court. Her descendants 
still have this dress, which was exhibited at 
the Charleston Exposition in 1902. 

Mrs. Pinckney bad two sons, both of whom 



A NOTABLE COLONIAL DAME 53 

were friends of Washington. One of them, 
General Charles Cotesworth Pinckn.ey, de- 
clined the appointments offered him by 
Washington, first, that of Secretary of War, 
next, that of Secretary of State. He de- 
clined both because he thought he could be 
more useful to his state as a member of the 
legislature. 

Mrs. Pinckney died in Philadelphia, where 
she had gone for a surgical operation. Gen- 
eral Washingtcm, at his own request, acted as 
one of her pallbearers. 



VIII. THE CATAWBA INDIANS 

The Catawba Indians were one of the most 
powerful tribes found by the whites in South 
Carolina. They were a handsome and noble 
race. From the beginning they were singu- 
larly friendly to the English, loyal to all 
obligations, and faithful to all treaties. They 
fought on the American side in the Revolu- 
tionary War, and in the War between the 
States a number of them were in the Confed- 
erate army. 

According to tradition, they came from 
Canada, fighting many hostile tribes along 
the way, and conquering until they met the 
Cherokees in Carolina. These two tribes 
fought a bloody battle. It lasted from sun- 
rise until dark. The loss on each side was 
heavy, but neither could claim a victory. The 

54 



THE CATAWBA INDIANS 55 

next morning the opposing chiefs did the 
most sensible thing to be done. They smoked 
the pipe of peace and buried the hatchet, 
naming the Broad River as the future bound- 
ary between the two tribes. The Catawbas 
were to remain on the east side of the river, 
and the Cherokees on the west side. 

This dividing line was, for the most part, 
strictly observed. But it is recorded that 
once a Catawba brave, in the excitement of 
the chase, followed a fine deer across the 
river, and was captured by some Cherokees. 
However, he killed seven of the Cherokees 
before he was taken. The next day he was, 
according to Indian custom, led out to torture 
before being put to death. This brave had 
no mind for either. He made a sudden dash, 
jumped into the river amid a shower of ar- 
rows, and, swimming like an otter, rising to 
the surface of the water only now and then 
to take breath, escaped to the opposite bank. 
When he had landed safe, he paused long 



56 PALMETTO STORIES 

enough to make gestures of scorn and to 
shout defiance at his enemies ; then he fled 
through the forest. 

The Cherokees followed him, but as night 
came on and they were tired out by the 
chase, they lay down to sleej). The cunning 
Catawba was on the w^atch. He came back, 
killed his pursuers in their sleep, scalped 
them, and escaped again across the river. 
The next night he returned, dug up the 
seven Cherokees he had killed the first day, 
took off their scalps, and once more got 
away. A solemn council was then held by 
the Cherokees to decide Avhat was best to 
do to protect themselves and to avenge their 
dead. It was concluded that the Catawba 
brave was a wizard, and that it was useless 
to pursue him. 

As late as 1760 the Catawbas numbered 
three thousand warriors. They were very 
helj^ful as scouts during the Revolutionary 
War. After the war some base white men, 



THE CATAWBA INDIANS 57 

it is said, purposely introduced smallpox 
amoug them, iu order to kill them off, 
and thus the more easily to get possession of 
their lands. They were successful, for the 
number of deaths was very great. The man- 
ner of treatment, vmdoubtedly, had much to 
do with the fatal effects of the disease. The 
Catawba doctors had but one treatment for 
all kinds of sickness. This remedy was 
known as the corn-sweat. Ears of corn, 
boiled in the shucks, were packed steam- 
ing hot about the patient. As soon as he 
broke out into a free perspiration, he was 
plunged into the river. As may be supposed, 
more frequently than otherwise it was a dead 
man, instead of a live man, that was taken 
out. Experience was, however, no teacher to 
the Catawba medicine man. Eeliable ac- 
counts state that as many as twenty-five 
patients a day died under this treatment. 

Hagler was the last chief of the Catawbas. 
He was a favorite with all the whites, and 



58 PALMETTO STORIES 

especially with Governor Bull, the last royal 
governor of the province. He had from prin- 
ciple supported the cause of the colonists in 
the Revolutionary War. He was a fine speci- 
men of manhood. Hagler was a fine marks- 
man, a man of cool courage, of clear judgment, 
and, according to Indian ideas of morals, of 
fine integrity. 

The chronicles of the time tell a story of 
Hagler that well illustrates the Indian idea 
of justice. A Frenchman, who taught the In- 
dians dancing, was journeying through the 
Catawba country when he met a party of 
savages starting on a hunt. They asked him 
what was in the box he carried. It was a 
violin. Taking it from its case, he played for 
them some lively airs. One of them coveted 
the fiddle. After the Frenchman had parted 
from them, this Indian ran ahead of him, 
shot him from ambush, and took the fiddle. 

Mr. Spratt, the first white man to settle 
among the Catawbas, and a friend of Hag- 



THE CATAWBA INDIANS 59 

ler, hearing of tlie murder, went witli two 
other white men to ask the chief for justice. 
Hagler was out on a hunt, but the white men 
succeeded in finding him. He received them 
cordially, and to the question of Mr. Spratt, 
" Are we brothers ? " he answered, " We are." 
They then shook hands, and Spratt told him 
of the murder. "Sit down," said Hagler; 
^justice shall be done." 

The chief then carefully loaded his rifle, 
and blew a blast on his hunting horn to 
recall his men from the hunt. Taking his 
stand, he watched with eagle eye the paths 
approaching the top of the hill on which he 
stood. Presently an Indian came in sight, 
toiling up the steep with a deer on his 
shoulder. As soon as he came within range, 
Hagler, taking careful aim, fired, and the 
Indian fell dead in his tracks. Then Hag- 
ler, turning to Spratt, said, " Justice has 
been done ; we are brothers again." It was" 
the Indian's idea of justice that a life must 



60 PALMETTO STORIES 

be given for a life, and that any life would 
answer the purpose. So it often happened, as 
in this case, that the guilty went unpunished 
and that the innocent were sacrificed. Mr. 
Spratt and his companions had to be satisfied 
with this idea of justice, though it did not 
agree with their own. But they appeared 
well pleased, and in token of friendship 
accepted the chief's invitation to dinner. 

The meal consisted of sweet potatoes roasted 
in the ashes, and venison without salt, broiled 
on the coals. These were served on pine-bark 
plates. After the guests had eaten awhile, 
these plates were removed, and other pine- 
bark plates were brought in Avith venison and 
potatoes. This was repeated several times. 
It seems that Hagler had once dined with 
Governor Bull in Charleston, and that the din- 
ner had been served in courses. He arranged 
his dinner in like style, to show his company 
that he was acquainted with the forms of good 
breeding, and could do the proper thing. 



THE CATAWBA INDIANS 61 

The burial of King Hagler, as he was 
often called, was one of the last rites at- 
tended with Indian pomp ever held by the 
Catawbas. " His grave," says the chronicle, 
" was ten feet long, ten feet wide, and ten 
feet deep. Into it were put his handsome 
silver-mounted rifle (a present from Governor 
Bidl), a fine powder-flask, gold coins and 
silver coins, pipes, and tobacco. The grave, in 
fact, was within a few feet of being filled 
with the things it was thought Hagler might 
need in the happy hunting grounds. A 
guard of sixteen men was set to keep watch 
over the grave for a moon (four wrecks). 
Some Virginia gamblers made the guard 
drunk and robbed the grave of its valuables." 

Hagler died childless. A sister had married 
General Newriver, but she and her husband 
had both died of smallpox, leaving only one 
child, a girl. She was not more than ten 
years old at the time of Hagler' s death. She 
was taken by a white settler into his family, 



62 PALMETTO STORIES 

brought up with his children, and given the 
same advantages of education and training. 
This girl, the last of the royal family of the 
Catawbas, is a picturesque figure in their his- 
tory. She remained with her foster-father 
imtil her eighteenth year ; then she went back 
,to her people to demand her rights as a prin- 
cess. Sending for six Indian girls, the daugh- 
ters of the most noted men of the tribe, she 
started on her mission. She was mounted on 
a jet-black Indian pony, and attended by the 
Indian maidens following in Indian file. 

When she rode into the chief village, near 
King's Bolton, the Catawbas came out to greet 
her, receiving her with loud shouts. They 
gazed upon her with pride, made her a great 
feast, and fitted up for her a wigwam deco- 
rated with their finest skins, shells, and other 
ornaments. They gave her liberal rents as 
an income, but they would not give her the 
title of queen. They seemed to have acquired 
from their white neighbors a dislike for mon- 



THE CATA^YBA INDIANS 68 

archy, for they flatly refused to have a 
crowned head as their ruler. 

For the rest of her life, however, she made 
her home among them. She never married. 
As she was the last of the royal family, 
there was no equal with whom she could 
mate. She was too proud to marry either 
red man or white man of meaner birth 
than herself. Honored by the Indians, to 
whom she gave wise counsel, loved by the 
whites, respected by all, she lived to a great 
age. 

A miserable remnant of the Catawbas still 
lingers in York county, on the river bearing 
their name. No long;er in stream and forest 
can they find their food. The fish have 
almost disappeared from the rivers, and the 
farmer is plowing his fields where once rang 
the brave Catawba's hunting cry. They eke 
out a wretched living from the sale of pot- 
tery and baskets which they make, and the 
pittance paid them by the state. 



64 PALMETTO STORIES 

It is said that although for years the 
Catawbas have understood the English lan- 
guage, and the missionaries have faithfully 
sought to teach them, very few of them have 
ever accepted the Christian religion. 



IX. THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTENUGGEE 

A LEGEND OF THE CATAWBAS 

October had set in, the leaves were falling, 
and the light-footed hunters of the Catawbas 
were about to set forth for the chase. The 
routes to be taken by the several bands were 
decided by the custom of the tribe, the 
stronger and more active men sroinjjc to tlie 
hills or to the rivers for the brown w^olf and 
the bear; the older and the weaker taking 
lighter duties. Some went alone, a few in 
twos, and others in groups. Among the twos 
were the warriors Conattee and Selonee. They 
were particularly attached to each other, and 
always followed the chase together. 

Conattee w^as married, and his wife, Macourah, 
was the ugliest squaw and the greatest scold 

F 65 



66 PALMETTO STORIES 

in the tribe. He was a bra^/e man and a fine 
hunter, but if he came home without game, 
the tongue of his squaw was heard from one 
end of the village to the other. 

Selonee was not married. He was one of 
the handsomest young braves among the Ca- 
tawbas, and his renown as a hunter was equal 
to that of Conattee. His lodge was never 
without meat, and he was considered the best 
wolf- taker in the tribe. Even the ill-tempered 
Macourah was fond of him, and her husband 
always found it pleasanter when Selonee went 
with hitn to his wigwam. 

Early one October morning these two friends 
set out for a hunt on the Pacolet River. They 
sought a spot that for years had been known 
as the lair of the fierce brown wolves. Pre- 
paring their strongest shafts and sharpest 
flints, they plunged fearlessly into the thicket. 
They had not gone far before a wolf of enor- 
mous size started up in their path. Selonee 
shot, but his arrow, glancing against a tree, 



THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTEXUGGEE 67 

was turned from its course and only slightly 
wounded the animal. AVith a howl it darted 
toward Conattee. A shaft from Conattee's bow 
struck it between the shoulders, but did not 
stop it. Dodging behind a tree to avoid the 
enraged beast, he let fly another arrow which 
struck the wolfs heart, and the brute leaping 
up fell into the river. 

The Indian was unwilling to lose his game. 
He threw off his moccasins and buckskin shirt, 
laid his bow and arrows beside them, and 
calling to Selonee to take care of them all, 
plunged into the stream. 

But Selonee had little time to heed Co- 
nattee. The she-wolf, hearing the cry of her 
mate, was rushing from her bed of leaves 
toward the young hunter. Five wolf cubs 
were around her. When she was within a 
short distance of the hunter, with a sweep of 
her paw she put them behind her, and stood 
with her fiery eyes fixed on the young brave. 
Selonee whistled shrilly as if to a dog, and 



68 PALMETTO STORIES 

began to bark. Hearing these sounds the 
wolf turned, and Selonee sent an arrow into 
her neck. She leaped at him, but he saved 
himself by jumping behind a tree ; he quickly 
aimed another shot, this time wounding her 
severely. It was an unequal fight for the 
wolf, attacking her enemy and protecting her 
young at the same time. Selonee, by shelter- 
ing himself behind trees, was able to put five 
arrows into her body without seriously exposing 
himself. The sixth arrow entered her eye. 
Then the Indian, running forward, picked up 
a piece of wood and struck one of the cubs. 
At this the mother rushed with open jaws 
upon him. When she was near enough, the 
watchful hunter thrust the piece of wood 
into her mouth and forced her backward. 
The cubs were snarling at his heels. He 
kept pushing the mother backward until he 
found his opportunity to stab her fatally. 

The fight ended, he went back to the river 
at the point where Conattee had jumped in. 



THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTENUGGEE 69 

The things were as he had left them, 
but there was no sign of his friend. He 
shouted Conattee's name, but received no 
answer. Filled with alarm, he swam across 
the river to look for him. On the other side 
he found the carcass of the wolf and tracks 
of his friend, but these were all. Following 
for fifty yards the trail made by these foot- 
prints, he came to a crooked, gnarled old 
tree with a curiously twisted trunk. The 
tree was partly uprooted and bent nearly 
to the ground. Up to this point the footprints 
were distinct, but here they ended. There 
was no sign of an enemy's attack, nor was 
there anything to indicate what had become 
of him. 

The disappearance was so strange that he 
felt sorely puzzled. Again and again he 
went over the ground between the river and 
the tree, but in vain. By this time night 
had come. Too perplexed and troubled to 
sleep, he lay and waited for the daw^n that 



70 PALMETTO STORIES 

he might reneAv tlie search. Next morning 
once more he crossed the river, and followed 
step by step the footprints, hoping yet to 
find some key to the mystery. When he 
reached the tree, he crawled under the sprawl- 
ing limbs and into the hollow made by its 
uptorn roots, and shouted the name of Co- 
nattee. The echoes alone answered his shouts. 

After three days spent in a fruitless search, 
he wearily tied the clothes and arms of the 
lost warrior on his shoulder, and turned in 
despair back to the Catawba village. 

Only squaws and papooses and a few old 
men were there, for the hunters were still in 
the woods. When Selonee came in sight of 
his wigwam, he sat down with his back to 
the village. No one came to him or ques- 
tioned him. At night when the braves re- 
turned, he called the men apart from the 
women and told his story. 

" It is a strange tale the wolf-chief tells 
us," said one. 



THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTENUGGEE 71 

" It is a true tale," replied Selonee. 

"Conattee was a brave chief," said another. 

^' Very brave, my father," answered Selonee. 

" And had he not eyes to direct his steps ? " 
asked a chief. 

" The great bird that rises to the sun had 
not better," was the reply. 

" What painted jay was it that said Conat- 
tee was a fool?" said still another chief. 

" The painted bird lied, if he said so," was 
the response of Selonee. 

Then Emathia, the head chief of the tribe, 
spoke : " And conies Selonee, the Avolf-chief, 
to us with the tale that Conattee was blind 
and could not see ? A coward that could not 
strike the he-wolf ? A fool that knew not 
where to set down his foot ? And shall we 
not say that Selonee lies upon his brother, 
even as the painted bird that makes a noise 
in my ears ? Selonee has slain Conattee with 
his knife. See, it is the blood of Conattee 
upon the war shirt of Selonee." 



72 PALMETTO STORIES 

" It is the blood of the wolf/' cried the 
young warrior, with indignation. 

"Let Selonee," replied the chief, "go to 
the woods behind the lodges till the chiefs 
say what shall be done to him, because of 
Conattee whom he slew." 

" Selonee will go as Emathia, the wise 
chief, has commanded," replied the young war- 
rior. " He will wait till the chiefs have 
spoken ; if they say he must die because of 
Conattee, it is well. Selonee laughs at death. 
But the blood of Conattee is not on the war 
shirt of Selonee; he has said it is the blood 
of the mother wolf." Then he drew forth 
the skin of the wolf he had slain, and the 
ears he had cut off the cubs. He put them 
down before the men, and without another 
word went away. 

There was no doubt in the minds of the 
council of chiefs that Selonee had killed Co- 
nattee. It was determined, however, to give 
him two weeks to find the lost man. 



THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTENUGGEE 73 

It was with gloomy feelings that the young 
man went forth on a search he felt to be hope- 
less. As he expected, the two weeks passed and 
brought him no tidings, no trace, of Conattee. 
Going back to the village, he took his seat 
before the council to receive his doom. When 
it was spoken, he untied his arrows, loosened 
his belt, and rose to his feet. 

" It is well," he said. " The chiefs have 
spoken ; the wolf-chief does not tremble. 
Fathers, I have slain the deer and the wolf ; 
I have slain the Cherokee until the scalps are 
about my knees when I walk ; I have had 
victories ; there is a deed for every arrow in 
my quiver. Bid the young men get their 
bows ready ; let them put a broad stone on 
their arrows that they may quickly take my 
life. I will show my people how to die." 

When he had finished speaking, they led 
him forth to death. Standing by his grave, 
he recited his victories and gave to each 
warrior an arrow to keep in remembrance of 



74 PALMETTO STORIES 

his deeds. A solemn stillness reigned over 
the scene. Suddenly the stillness was broken 
by the shrill voice of the wife of Conattee. 
Darting through the crowd with a peeled 
switch in her hand, she struck Selonee over 
the shoulders, saying : — 

" Come, thou dog, thou shalt not die ! 
Thou shalt lie in the doorway of Conattee, 
and bring venison for his wife ! " 

A murmur arose from the crowd. " She 
hath the right ; she hath chosen Selonee for 
her husband," said they. The widow had, 
indeed, done what was permitted by Indian 
rale. Smartly striking Selonee on the shoul- 
ders, she repeated her command for him to 
follow. 

" Thou wilt take this dog to thy lodge, 
Macourah ? " demanded the old chief. 

''Have I not said?" shouted the scold. 
" Hear you not ? The dog is mine ; I bid him 
follow me." 

" Is there no friendly arrow to seek my 



THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTENUGGEE 75 

heart ? " cried the unhappy Selonee. And 
even the enemies of the young warrior pitied 
his fate as Macourah led him away. 

Macourah had found a substitute for her hus- 
band quite to her taste, but Conattee was not 
so far away as she thought. He had caught 
the dead wolf as it drifted down the stream, 
taken it to shore, scalped and skinned it, 
when he heard a noise in the wood. Eager 
for more game he went toward the sound. 
He saw nothing but a curiously twisted pine 
tree half bent to the ground. He concluded 
that some beast might be hiding under its 
roots. He crawled under the gnarled prongs 
and prostrate branches, but saw no sign of 
any animal. Wearied he sat down on the 
tree to rest. To his horror two huge limbs 
curled over his legs, others covered his arms, 
and all so quickly that he could not escape. 
He was soon covered by the bark and moss. 
He tried to move, but could not stir a limb ; 
he tried to scream, but could not make a 



76 PALMETTO STORIES 

sound. Then lie knew that the Gray Demon 
had caught him, and that he was bound in 
the Armchair of Tustenuggee. 

His only hope was that Selonee might 
understand, and cut off the limbs and split 
the bark enfolding him. But this hope died 
out when he saw his friend's fruitless search 
around and around where he was imprisoned. 
His terror was increased when the Gray De- 
mon said mockingly, " Your only chance, 
Conattee, is for some one to sit in your lap — 
some one you are willing to leave behind with 
me. 

Conattee, imprisoned in the Armchair of 
Tustenuggee was not more unhappy than his 
friend Selonee. The day in the wigwam with 
Macourah was hopelessly wretched. When 
they were alone, she treated him with great 
affection, but this was even more disagreeable 
to him than her loud scolding had been. 
Unless he could find Conattee, there was no 
hope for him. He resolved to search the for- 



THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTENUGGEE 77 

est once more for his friend, and never to 
return unless he found him. 

Having made this decision, he hurried from 
the wigwam. Macourah saw him, and guess- 
ing his purpose, hurried after him to bring 
him back. Strong, and fleet of foot, she fol- 
low^ed his trail rapidly, but it w^as a day and 
a half before she overtook him. When Se- 
lonee heard Macourah's voice calling him, he 
was surprised. But he stopped until she came 
up ; then he told her of his resolve to look 
again for Conattee. 

At first she scolded him, then she began to 
lash him w^ith her willow switch. On the 
day before, he had borne this, in the presence 
of the tribe, because the law of the Catawba s 
bound him to do so ; but now he turned and 
left her. Hardy, accustomed to the forest, and 
the swiftest of runners, he soon left her behind, 
and Macourah found her pursuit wearisome. 

Selonee continued his flight till he reached 
the curious old tree. Here he again renewed 



78 PALMETTO STORIES 

his search for Conattee. He was coming from 
beneath the roots and branches when he 
caught sight of Macourah, now close upon 
him. In a moment he was out of sight. 

" I can go no farther," cried the tired 
woman. " A curse on Selonee ! A curse on 
Conattee ! In losing one I have lost both. 
As for Selonee, may the One-eyed Witch of 
Tustennggee take him for her dog." So say- 
ing, she seated herself on the green moss that 
formed the lap of Conattee. No sooner had 
she sat down than the branches relaxed their 
hold on him, and began to wrap themselves 
around her. 

Conattee, finding himself free, ran away as 
fast as he could. Macourah recognized her 
husband, and tried to release herself in order 
to follow him, but the Gray Demon held 
her fast. She tried to cry out, but her 
tongue was tied by the rough tendrils of the 
demon-tree, and she could no longer curse and 
scold as of old. 



THE ARMCHAIR OF TUSTENUGGEE 79 

Conattee soon found Selonee, and together 
they made their way back to the Catawba 
village. No one cared for the disajDpearance 
of Macourah. Only Conattee knew that she 
was firmly seated in the Armchair of Tuste- 
nuggee. And he kept the secret. 



X. THE CHEROKEES 

The Cherokees once owned large territory 
in the most beautiful part of upper South 
Carolina. They were handsome and brave, 
but fierce and treacherous, and the whites 
could not depend on their professions of 
friendship. Yet the Indians were not wholly 
to blame for the numerous wars which took 
place between the two races. The introduction 
of rum and the consequent drunkenness caused 
many of the troubles. The Indians were ex- 
ceedingly quarrelsome when drinking. An old 
Indian put the case truly when, apologizing for 
some misconduct, he said that there were three 
persons concerned in the difficulty — himself, 
the other man, and rum. 

Rum was, however, but one of the 
several causes of the bad blood between the 

80 



THE CHEROKEES 81 

Cherokees and the whites of Carolina. The 
Spanish at Fort Augustine and the French 
at Mobile continually stirred up strife between 
them, hoping to profit by the discord. 
Besides, the trade relations of the Indians 
and the whites were ever a fruitful source of 
ill-feeling. The trade in furs and skins was 
a source of wealth to the province, and there 
were fixed rules for conducting this trade. 
All values were fixed so as to prevent cheat- 
ing. For instance, Indians and white men 
knew that a gun was worth thirty-five bear- 
skins or deerskins ; a pair of scissors, one 
skin ; a yard of cloth, eight skins. But de- 
spite this, misunderstandings and quarrels 
arose. In England the skins and furs sold 
for several times what the Indians got for 
them, but they did not know this. The 
troubles between the Indians and the whites 
weve the result of disputes between individuals, 
and not of any general grievance. 

After a long and bitter war with the 



82 PALMETTO STORIES 

Clierokees, tlie royal authorities were anxious 
to secure a lasting peace. In 1730 tliey sent 
Sir Alexander Gumming as commissioner to 
visit their chief towns, confer with the heads of 
the tribes, carry gifts, and propose an alliance. 
Sir Alexander was a large, pompous man, 
and he took with him a niunber of attend- 
ants. All were dressed in fine clothes, in 
order to impress the saA^ages with his dignity 
and importance. It was three hundred miles 
from Charleston to Keowee, the chief Chero- 
kee town. The way was mostly through the 
woods, but the journey was safely made. The 
commissioner was received by the Indians 
with marks of esteem. The chief men were 
dressed in their best cloaks of fine bearskin, 
necklaces and bracelets of shells, and head- 
dresses of feathers. Loving finery as they 
did, the glittering lace on the red coats of 
the white men, the lofty plumes in their hats, 
and the gay trappings of their horses, excited 
great admiration. 



THE CHEROKEES 88 

For all the chiefs Sh^ Alexander had presents 
of articles to please tlieir tastes. They gave 
in return five eagle tails, symbols of the na- 
tion's glory ; and fonr scalps of their enemies, 
proofs of their bravery in war. To these they 
added peace-gifts of corn, flesh, and fruit. 

There were thirty-two in the council as- 
sembled for the occasion, and a great deal of 
high-sounding talk was indulged in. One 
chief, Moytoy, or Black Warrior, was espe- 
cially pleasing to Sir Alexander. He asked 
in the name of the English king that Moytoy 
should be made king of the Cherokees. To 
this the other chiefs agreed, and the English 
presented him with an elegant robe to wear 
on state occasions. 

Sir Alexander proposed that some of the 
chiefs should go with him to England. 
" Your brother George," he said, speaking of 
the king of England, " will be glad to see 
you. He will load you with presents — 
hatchets, knives, rich clothes, and beautiful 



84 PALMETTO STORIES 

feathers. He will bind his heart to you with 
a bright gold chain which will last a thou- 
sand years." " He is our brother," returned 
the chiefs. "We will go to see our brother 
George." 

Dazzled by the fine promises, and ignorant 
of the length and hardshijDs of a voyage 
across the Atlantic, the Indians were eager 
to go. Six of them threw their bearskins 
across their shoulders, filled their quivers 
with fresh arrows, kissed the sunny side of 
the tree under which the council was held, 
and started with Sir Alexander for Charles- 
ton. Before they had gone far a seventh 
joined them. The oldest chief that went was 
Sonestoi. He was a great warrior, a good 
man, and a person noted in the nation for 
his wisdom. 

In May the party started for England. 
The poor Indians suffered dreadfully from 
seasickness, but they were too brave to com- 
plain. They tried to amuse themselves and to 



THE CHEROKEES 85 

forget their misery. A pet monkey on board, 
the first they had ever seen, was a source 
of great interest. The younger men thought 
it below their dignity to show much amuse- 
ment at its antics. But Sonestoi thought his 
ciiaracter so well established that a little 
unbending would not hurt his dignity. He 
took endless delight in the monkey's pranks, 
and would laugh heartily as he watched 
them. He named the monkey Hichsivacki- 
maw, or the warrior with a tail. Sir Alex- 
ander thought the old chief was too much 
occupied with the little animal. So one day 
he caught it up to throw it overboard, but 
the look of anger in Sonestoi' s face stopped 
him. 

When the Cherokees arrived in London, a 
great display was made over them. Wher- 
ever they went a crowd collected to see them, 
and a special reception was given them by 
the king. At tliis reception lords and ladies 
were gayly dressed, and everything was done 



S6 PALMETTO STORIES 

to impress the Indians with the splendor and 
power of the English. 

Sir Alexander wished to instruct Skija- 
gustah, the Cherokee orator, in court man- 
ners, and to tell him what to say to the king. 
But Skijagustah drew himself up proudly, and 
wrapped his bearskin around him with a 
haughty gesture, and said : — 

" Skijagustah is the great mouth of the 
Cherokees. He has stood before his nation 
when Keowee, the Real Arrow, was there. 
His words are good." Then he turned scorn- 
fully away from his would-be tutor. The 
interpreter tried to explain about court cere- 
monies, but the Cherokee was offended at 
being taught manners by a paleface. Sir 
Alexander had to leave him to his own 
devices. 

When the Indians entered the presence 
chamber, the king sat in the chair of state, 
ready to receive them. Sonestoi was in 
advance of the others. The king arose and 



THE CHEROKEES 87 

put out nis hand for Sonestoi to kiss, but 
to the dismay of the courtiers, the old chief 
took the king's hand in his, and gave it a 
hearty good shake. As he did so, he spoke 
in broken Enghsh : — 

"How you do, brudder George? how you 
do ? Glad to see you." Then looking around 
on the ladies of the court, with a good- 
natured grin he continued, " You hab plenty 
of squaw, brudder George." The court stood 
aghast at this breach of manners, bat the 
king, as he withdrew his hand from the grasp 
of the chief, smiled good-naturedly and seemed 
much amused. 

A treaty was then made, which was to be 
lasting. So they worded it, " as long as the 
rivers shall run; as long as the mountains 
shall stand." Then a noble gave to each 
Indian a rich present. The king, taking a 
long gold chain from his own neck and 
putting it around Sonestoi's, left the room. 
Sonestoi's part in the ceremony being done, 



88 PALMETTO STORIES 

he drew back, and Skijagustah made an 
eloquent speech. 

" Your people," he said, " shall build near 
ours with safety; the Cherokees shall hurt 
them not ; tliey shall not hurt anything 
that belongs to your people. Are we not 
children of one father ? Shall we not live 
and die together?" Pausing, he took from 
one of the Indians a bunch of eagle feathers, 
and gave them to the English secretary. As 
he did so, he said : " This is our way of talk- 
ing ; it is the same thing to us as your letters 
in your book are to you. These feathers 
from the strong bird of the Cherokees shall 
stand for the truth of what I have said." 

In September the Cherokees set sail for 
Charleston. On the way the old chief Sonestoi 
grew ill. Getting no better as the days passed, 
he knew himself to be dying, and called for his 
arrows. " Bring me my arrows, Skijagustah," 
he said. " Bring me my arrows, young braves 
of the Cherokees; the arrows shall speak for 



THE CHEROKEES 89 

my victories." As he drew them one by one 
from the quiver, he told the history of 
each : — 

" This arrow," he said, " I had when a 
boy ; I used it in my first battle when my 
father took me on the warpath against the 
Chickasaws. This one I had when I escaped 
from the Shawnees. They took me prisoner 
as I was hunting. And this one I had when 
I fought the Creeks, and was made a chief 
for my bravery." Thus he sang of his tri- 
iniiphs^ the others listening with reverence 
and admiration. As he finished his death 
song, Skijagustah took the arrows and care- 
fully tied them together. When at sunset the 
old chief died, the arrows were placed on his 
breast, and remained there till the next day. 
Before burying him in the sea, they were 
taken off to be carried back to the nation; for 
it was the custom of the Cherokees to keep 
the arrows of their great warriors to recall 
their deeds. 



90 PALMETTO STORIES 

Some years after the return of the Chero- 
kees, another outbreak occurred. This time 
a treaty was arranged by Alexander Stewart, 
a trader. He gave a golden chain to Atta- 
kullakulla, the great chief of the Cherokees, 
and one of those who had visited England. 
As he gave it he said, "I fasten this to 
the breast of the Cherokee wise man, and 
it binds our friendship. The English and the 
Indians must be as the children of one 
family." We have seen that fine speeches 
had not preserved peace ; nor had the giving 
of gold chains bound the races by very secure 
ties. But this treaty was an exception. It 
was faithfully kept by the Cherokees. In the 
war between the English and the French in 
America (1755-1759) they fought bravely on 
the English side. 

As they were returning from Canada after 
the war, however, some of the young war- 
riors stole horses in Virginia. The Virginians, 
instead of appealing to the Cherokee chiefs to 



THE CHEROKEES 91 

adjust the matter, took it into their own 
hands, and killed a number of the Indians. 
The Indians retaliated by murdering all the 
whites they could find. Having, according to 
their notions, thus taken proper vengeance, 
they went to Charleston to signify their 
readiness for peace. But Governor Lyttleton 
held the peace envoys as prisoners, and de- 
manded that the twenty-four men concerned 
in the murders should be put to death. 

Attakullakulla, the chief, was indignant at 
the treatment of his messengers, but another 
treaty was made. Still the tribe were angry 
over what they considered the unfairness of 
the whites, and would not keep the treaty. 
They went on the warpath, and, surprising 
the defenseless settlements, massacred men, 
women, and children. 

Among the sufferers in this massacre were 
several members of the Calhoun family, from 
which John C. Callioun, the noted states- 
man, came. The Calhouns and several other 



92 PALMETTO STORIES 

families had recently moved from another 
part of South Carolina to what is now 
Abbeville county. Hearing of the Indian out- 
break, they started for Augusta, Georgia, the 
nearest point of safety for the women and 
children. Camping at the roadside for the 
night, they were overtaken by the Indians, 
and about fifty of them killed. Mrs. Patrick 
Calhoun was among the number killed. Two 
of William Calhoun's little daughters were 
captured. One was rescued, but the other 
was never again heard of. 

The whites were so enraged by these hor- 
rors that they took up arms at once, deter- 
mined this time to teach the Indians a lesson 
they should never forget. They reduced to 
ashes the Indian towns and villages in the 
Keowee valley. They destroyed the fields of 
corn, and drove the Indians into the forests. 
The Cherokees were completely humbled, and 
begged for peace. 

Old Attakullakulla, who had done his best 



THE CHEROKEES 93 

to keep his braves from the warpath, said : 
" I am come to see what can be done for 
my people. They are in great distress. As 
to what has happened, I believe it has been 
ordered by the Great Master. He is the father 
of the whites and of the Indians. As we all 
live in one land, let us live as one people." 
His petition was granted. Peace was made, 
and the Cherokees remained in their own 
territory until the Revolutionary War, with- 
out further outbreak. 




An Indian War Dance. 



XL A STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE 



At the beginning of the Revolutionary 
War, the Cherokee Indians espoused the 
British cause, and took the warpath against 
the colonists. In the summer of 1776, a bat- 
talion composed mostly of York men was 
ordered out against them. Under the com- 
mand of Major Frank Ross, the soldiers 
started for the Keowee country. 

94 



A STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE 95 

At the Blockhouse, the residence of Colonel 
Height, a trader, in the northeastern part of 
what is now Greenville county, they learned 
of the Indian outrages. The savages had 
killed Colonel Height, pillaged the settle- 
ment, and captured Mrs. Height and her two 
daug:hters. 

At the same time the whites were told of 
the death of Colonel Height's son, who had gone 
to the Cherokee villages with the hope of in- 
ducing the Indians not to take the warpath. 
From boyhood he had been on friendly terms 
with the chiefs of the tribes, and he went 
on his mission of peace without fear. A 
fatal mission it was. The war spirit was 
raging so wildly among the Indians, that 
they not only refused to listen to him, but 
barbarously murdered the young man who 
had gone so confidingly into their midst. 

Very soon after the murder of young 
Height, the Cherokees started out to destroy 
all the white settlements of Carolina not oc- 



96 PALMETTO STORIES 

cupied by the Tories. Their first halt was 
at the house of another trader, situated 
where the town of Greenville now is. The 
trader's name was Parris, and as he was a 
Tory, they considered him a friend. They 
told him of young Height's murder, and of 
their intention to kill Colonel Height and 
destroy his property. 

Susan Parris, the daughter of the trader, 
was engaged to be married to young Height, 
and it was thus that she had the first news 
of his murder. She was almost crushed by 
the terrible shock, but putting aside her grief, 
she set to work to save her threatened 
friends. She knew that she must work 
alone, for, on account of her father's sym- 
pathy with the British, she could not expect 
any help from him. 

She quickly made up her mind what to 
do. As soon as it was dark, she secretly 
took a horse from the stable, mounted it, 
and hurried through the forest, hoping to 



A STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE 97 

reach Colonel Height's house in time to save 
the family. The Indians, however, missing 
the horse from the stable and suspecting her 
design, got there ahead of her. When she 
reached Colonel Height's, she found his life- 
less form and the ashes of his home. 

Hearing all this, Major Ross marched rap- 
idly, hoping to rescue Mrs. Height and her 
daughters, whom the savages had carried off 
with them. There was great indignation 
against Parris, and some talk of killing him. 
But the brave effort of the daughter to save 
the Heights, and their sympathy for her, 
caused the soldiers to leave her father un- 
harmed. 

Joined later by General Williamson, with 
twelve or fifteen hundred men. Major Ross 
advanced as fast as possible toward the Keo- 
wee towns. With his advance guard of one 
hundred and fifty men, were twenty-five Ca- 
tawba Indians. These, knowing the forests 
well, and being familiar with the methods of 



98 PALMETTO S*rORIES 

savage warfare, acted as scouts. As there 
was always danger of an ambuscade, the 
scouts took every precaution agamst surprise. 
Especially were they particular to examine the 
tallest trees, to see whether they had been 
recently climbed. For it was customary with 
the southern Indians to have climhers to watch 
the enemy, as well as runners to carry the 
news. 

The advance guard came in its march to 
a cove, where the trampled weeds and pea- 
vines showed that the enemy could not be far 
off. The Catawbas advised a halt to wait for 
the main body of the troops. The impatient 
whites would not heed this counsel, but 
pressed on. A short distance farther on they 
found sucli unmistakable signs of the enemy, 
that the Catawbas refused to proceed till the 
rest of the army should join them. 

Despite this, some of the whites wished to 
go on, but the captain of the force was un- 
willing to take such a risk. At this juncture 



A STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE 99 

a young French volunteer, St. Julien, cried 
out, '' I will lead, if the rest will follow ; " 
and the march continued. 

In silence, with arms trailed, they went in 
single file up the mountain side covered with 
pea- vines and grass higher than a man's head. 
Suddenly there was the report of a gun, and 
the rash but brave St. Julien fell dead. Then 
followed a quick succession of shots and wild 
yells, as the Cherokees broke from their hid- 
ing places. The whites, in their confusion, left 
the trail, and ran helter-skelter through the 
tangle of grass and pea-vines. 

The Cherokees, seeing their foes rimning 
and rolling pellmell down the mountain, 
thought they must be severely wounded, and 
rushed to take their scalps, for which the 
British government was offering a guinea 
apiece. Major Ross was among those who 
rolled to the bottom of the slope, and he 
found himself in a ravine, where he was at- 
tacked by an Indian. Ross w^as a strong 

L.Ot C. 



100 PALMETTO STORIES 

man. The Indian was less muscular, but 
he was greased till he w^as as slippery as an 
eel, and as he was naked, Ross found it 
difficult to hold him. After fighting awhile 
both lost their weapons, and the savage was 
about to get the advantage, when a soldier 
came up, and knocked him down. Ross fell 
also, for a blow on the head froui the In- 
dian's tomahawk had hurt him badly. 

By this time the Cherokees had given up 
the pursuit. The whites, bruised, wearied, and 
disheartened, gathered around the wounded 
Ross, who thought himself fatally injured. 
When the surgeon examined him, however, 
he said : " Pooh ! Ross, you can talk. Now, 
if you can bite, your head is not broken, 
and you'll not die." With that he thrust his 
finger into the officer's mouth, who bit it so 
vigorously that the old surgeon roared to be 
released. There was a smile all around at 
the evidence of the major's satisfactory con- 
dition. Ross himself, feeling much better, 



A STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE 101 

was helped to liis feet, and walked to where 
his wounded enemy was lying. The Indian, 
though in the agonies of death, scowled defi- 
ance at him. 

When the main body of troops came up, 
all started in pursuit of the Cherokees, but 
with greater caution. From the first Keowee 
town they reached, everybody had fled except 
one old squaw. After destroying the town 
and the crops, they set forth again. 

Putting the old squaw on an Indian pony, 
they ordered her to guide them to the near- 
est village. They promised to release her if 
she did their bidding;, but threatened her 
with death if she deceived them. The squaw 
smiled with contempt at their promises and 
threats, and they felt themselves in unsafe 
hands. 

Twilight found them only a short distance 
from the village where the Cherokees had as- 
sembled, but night came on before they 
reached it. Darkness caught them in narrow 



102 PALMETTO STORIES 

passes, among fallen trees and steep rocks. 
They were sure that the squaw had misled 
them. Since it was impossible for them to 
go on, they halted for the night, their arms 
in their hands ready for use, in case of at- 
tack. All through the night they could 
plainly see the enemy's fires, and hear the 
Indian yells. Late in the night they heard 
the wailing and screaming of a woman. This 
made the men desperate, for it was impossible 
to give the help they knew to be needed. 

At the first glimmer of dawn they pushed 
on, and by sunrise had reached the village. 
It was deserted. But the corpse of the ill- 
fated Mrs. Height lay not far from the fire, 
around which, during the night, the cruel 
savages had danced their war-dance. A sol- 
dier drew off his coat and threw it over 
the body. The next day they buried the 
poor woman near the scene of her death. 

A few days longer they pursued the sav- 
ages, but not overtaking them, they turned 



A STORY OF INDIAN WARFARE 103 

homeward, destroying all Indian villages and 
crops along their way. 

Not long after this outbreak the Cherokees 
begged for peace. It was granted, but they 
were made to give up all their land in South 
Carolina. From this land were made the 
counties of Greenville, Anderson, Pickens, and 
Oconee. 

The daughters of Colonel Height were sold 
from one tribe to another till they reached 
the Mississippi River. Fortunately a French 
trader met them there. He bought them 
from the Indians and sent them to their 
kinspeople in South Carolina, fiYe years after 
tlie massacre of their friends. 



XII. THE BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 

HOW SOUTH CAROLINA WON THE NAME OF THE 
PALMETTO STATE 

South Carolina took an active part in re- 
sisting the Tea Act and the Stamp Act by 
which England laid certain taxes on the 
American colonies. In 1774 the British gov- 
ernment shut up the port of Boston to punish 
that city for throwing a shipload of tea into 
the harbor. South Carolina sent to Boston, in 
this time of distress, a relief fund that had 
been collected throughout the colony. Charles- 
ton sent a larger amount than any other 
place, even more than any Massachusetts town 
sent. The people of Charleston had refused 
to let the tea be landed and sold, though 
they afterward permitted it to be landed, and 
packed in cellars to rot. 

104 



THE BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 



105 



Before the Declaration of Independence 
was signed in July, 1776, war was actually 
being carried on against the colonies. In 
June, 1776, a fleet under Sir Peter Parker, 




Fort Moultrie, as seen from the Land Side. 

having on board an army commanded by 
General Clinton, appeared off Charleston. 

Four miles from the city, on the north 
side of the harbor, lies Sullivan's Island, 
about five miles long. There was a fort on 
it, but in an unfinished state. The fort was 
built of palmetto logs laid one upon another, 



106 PALMETTO STORIES 

in two parallel rows sixteen feet apart, the 
spaces between the rows being filled with 
sand. The logs were notched into one an- 
other at the corners, and strengthened by 
pieces of timber fastened crosswise. The 
walls were ten feet high above the platforms 
of brick on the inside. The fort Avas finished 
only in front, or the southeast side. On the 
other three sides the walls were only about 
seven feet high. 

The eastern end of the island had an ex- 
posed point where it was believed the enemy 
would try to land. General Charles Lee, who 
commanded the American forces, was so 
doubtful, or rather hopeless, of being able to 
hold the position, that he was inclined to 
withdraw his army. Governor Rutledge in- 
sisted that the defense should be attempted. 

The fort was in command of Colonel Wil- 
liam Moultrie, while Colonel Thompson was 
posted at the exposed point of land to oppose 
the landing of the British. 



THE BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 



107 



Governor Rutledge and Colonel Moultrie 
were confident of victory in spite of General 
Lee's doubts. Captain Lampriere, a brave 
sea-captain, said to Moultrie, " When these 
ships come to lie alongside your fort, they'll 
knock it down 
in half an hour." 
Moultrie replied, 
" Then we shall 
lie behind the 
ruins, and pre- 
vent the men 
from landing." 
Colonel Moultrie 
says in his Me- 
TYioirs : "I was 
never uneasy, for 
I could not 

imagine that the enemy could force me to 
retreat. I considered myself able to defend 
the post." The spirit of Colonel Thompson 
was equally unyielding. 




General Moultrie. 



108 PALMETTO STOEIES 

The enemy's fleet was composed of two 
fifty-gun ships, five frigates, and four other 
vessels. In all they carried two hundred and 
seventy guns. General Clinton had two 
thousand British regulars, with two schooners 
and a flotilla to protect their landing. 

The British began the engagement by open- 
ing fire upon the fort in order to draw its 
fire, while Clinton attempted to land at the 
point where Colonel Thompson was posted. 
Colonel Thompson had a redoubt, the founda- 
tion of which was brick ; it was built up as 
high as the men's heads with palmetto logs. 
He had only two small cannon, but his rangers 
were back-country men, and very fine marks- 
men with their rifles. He was himself from 
Orangeburg and was said to be the finest 
rifle-shot in the regiment. 

Clinton's men attempted to land, but the 
water was too deep to ford, and it was unsafe 
to run the vessels into shallower water. The 
flotilla gave them but little protection, and 



THE BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 109 

Colonel Thompson began to fire on them. 
Not one of Thompson's men had before fired 
a cannon, and the men were very much amused 
with the grapeshot. It was a new experience 
to them to put a pocketful of bullets into their 
enemy at every fire, for they never supposed 
that they could miss aim. Every discharge of 
the cannon by the Carolinians raked the decks 
of the flotilla, and the rifles cut down the ranks 
of Clinton's men. After repeated attempts to 
reach the desired landing-point, the British 
were forced to give up and retreat. 

Colonel Moultrie in his half-finished fort 
was carrying on an equally gallant fight. He 
had only twenty-five cannon, a limited supply 
of powder, and was himself more than half 
sick, suffering all day great physical pain. 
Still he never lost heart. " We'll beat them," 
he repeated again and again. His men stood 
firmly to their guns, taking deliberate aim. 
The troops were undaunted. One man. Ser- 
geant McDaniel, cruelly mangled by a cannon 



110 PALMETTO STORIES 

ball, said to his comrades as he was dying, 
" Fight on, my brave boys ; don't let Liberty 
expire with me to-day." 

General Lee came over from Charleston to 
the fort. The spirit maintained by the gar- 
rison made him more hopeful. " I see you 
are doing well here. You have no need for 
me ; I shall go up to town again." And 
through a line of fire, as he had come, he 
returned to Charleston. 

The log fort proved a safe defense. Pal- 
metto is a soft wood, and the cannon of that 
day had only enough force to bury the balls in 
the spongy logs. 

The flag which had been raised on the ram- 
parts of the fort had a blue ground with a 
white crescent and the word Liberty on it. 
Early in the action the flagstaff was shot 
away. Sergeant Jasper leaped over the wall to 
the beach amid the hottest fire from the war- 
ships, grasped the fallen standard, climbed the 
merlon, and deliberately restored the flag to 



THE BATTLE OF FORT MOULTRIE 111 

its place. Then he gave three cheers of defi- 
ance, and went back to the fort. His com- 
rades watched him in breathless anxiety, and 
as he climbed down into the fort, cheer after 
cheer fell on his ears. The next day Gov- 
ernor Rutledge gave to Jasper his own sword 
in recognition of the brave act. 

The British ships suffered severely, but the 
powder in the fort ran low. Governor Rut- 
ledge sent Moultrie five hundred jDOunds with 
the message, " Do not make too free with your 
cannon — keep cool and do mischief." 

The firing continued until seven o'clock, 
when it slackened ; at half ^^ast nine it ceased. 
At eleven the w^ar-ships of Great Britain 
slipped their cables and silently withdrew. 
The battle of Fort Moultrie was the first de- 
cisive American victory of the War for Inde- 
pendence. The blood of Carolinians only was 
spilled. The palmetto-log fort defended by 
Carolinians has given to South Carolina the 
name of the Palmetto State. 




Christopher Gadsden. 



XIII. CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN 



A PRIME MOVER IN THE REVOLUTION 

Bancroft says : '' Be it remembered that 
the blessing of the Union is due to the warm- 
heartedness of South Carolina, and when we 
count up those who, above all others, con- 
tributed to the great result, we are to name 

112 



CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN 113 

the inspired madman, James Otis, and the 
great statesman — the magnanimous, faultless 
lover of his country, Christopher Gadsden." 

Christopher Gadsden was the son of a 
retired officer of the British Navy. He was 
born in Charleston, and at an early age went 
to England for his education. He became a 
distinguished linguist, and on his return to 
the colony he entered commercial life. 

" Whatever he undertook, he pursued with 
such energy that he made of it a success." 
He amassed wealth very rapidly, and bought 
back a large tract of land which his father 
had lost in gambling with Lord Anson, when 
the latter was the father's guest. 

Gadsden was a many-sided man, and did 
not allow his private business to engage his 
mind to the exclusion of public affairs. He 
w^as always full of schemes for the good of 
the peojDle, as well as for his own interests. 
He believed in the people, and in the people's 
fitness to govern themselves. 



114 PALMETTO STORIES 

In 1759, when Governor Lyttleton made 
his expedition against the Cherokees, Gadsden 
at once raised a company of artillery. This 
was the first ever organized in South Caro- 
lina, and was long known in the state as the 
Ancient Battalion of Artillery. Gadsen was 
born an aristocrat, but by principle was a re- 
publican. His generous nature, high character, 
and great talents drew to him as followers 
many stanch mechanics. 

Under the Liberty Tree, as the great live- 
oak which stood in one of the suburbs of 
Charleston was called, Gadsden spoke again and 
again. When the direct tax was laid on the 
colonies by Great Britain, he made this indig- 
nant protest, " No man in Great Britain can 
legally demand of one in America a sum of 
money which he does not owe, and never 
agreed to pay ! " His eloquence, as that of 
Patrick Henry in Virginia, moved the hearts 
of those who listened. Gadsden knew that 
the colony was not prepared for war — that 



CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN 115 

the time for separation from the mother-coun- 
try had not come. 

When the stamps were brought to Charles- 
ton, no man could be found to take the 
office of receiver. The stamps were placed in 
Fort Johnson, which was a strong fort, but 
poorly guarded. "At night," says Johnson, 
in his Traditions, " one hundred and fifty citi- 
zens organized, armed themselves, and went 
in open boats at night to the fort. They 
took possession of the stamps, manned the 
fort, loaded the caimon, hoisted the flag, and 
when day* came were prepared to fight." ^ The 
captain of the war-ship which brought the 
stamps was informed that, unless he pledged 
himself to take them off and not to land any 
in America, every stamp would be destroyed. 
The promise was given, and the hated stamps 
were got rid of. Gadsden did not object to the 
course pursued, and probably gave his assistance. 

^ This story about Fort Johnson is discredited by some 
good authorities. 



116 PALMETTO STORIES 

In February, 1765, in the Assembly of 
South Carohna, Gadsden was the first to 
advocate the independence of the colonies. 
When, in the same year, Massachusetts called 
a convention to meet in New York to con- 
sider the Stamp Act, four colonies did not 
send delegates. It was chiefly through the 
influence of Gadsden that South Carolina re- 
sponded to the call. And in that convention 
his voice was for the natural rights of free- 
men. 

Later it was proposed to pay for the tea 
destroyed at Boston. ^^No," thundered Gads- 
den, " don't pay for an ounce of their accursed 
tea ! " 

In the Continental Congress he was a dele- 
gate full of courage that defied danger. 
Lavish of his means for public ends, he con- 
tended that no rice should be exported, al- 
though he knew that such a course would 
sacrifice his individual fortune. 

He was a member of Congress in 1776, but 



CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN 117 

was recalled to Charleston to take command 
of his company of artillery in the defense of 
the town; therefore he was not a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. The news 
of the Declaration did not reach Charleston 
until the very last day of July. It was on 
the fifth of August that the event was cele- 
brated. A procession composed of the mili- 
tary companies, the Freemasons, the mayor, 
the aldermen, bands of music, and citizens, 
marched to the Liberty Tree. The ceremonies 
opened with prayer, the Declaration was read, 
the cannon were fired, the people huzzaed, 
and the Rev. Mr. Perry made an address. 
It was very hot weatlier, and a black servant 
stood near the speaker, holding an umbrella 
over him and fanning him. A wit who 
belonged to the Royalists, thus wrote : — 

" Good Mr. Parson, it is not quite civil, 
To be preaching rebellion thus fanned by the devil." 

When Charleston was besieged by Prevost 
in 1779, it was proposed to surrender the 



118 PALMETTO STORIES 

town. Gadsden was then lieutenant-governor. 
In the absence of Governor Rutledge, Gads- 
den hotly opposed surrender, and so delayed 
negotiations that the British withdrew in the 
belief that reinforcements for the Americans 
were near. In 1780 the town did capitulate 
to Clinton. Gadsden was among those who 
were paroled. 

A few months afterwards, without any provo- 
cation he, with fifty or sixty others, was arrested 
and sent to St. Augustine. Before leaving the 
ship the prisoners were brought up on deck, 
and asked by the captain to give a fresh parole. 
All but Gadsden did so ; he indignantly refused. 
" With men who have once deceived me, I 
shall enter into no new contract. Without a 
shadow of accusation against me I am exiled, 
and I shall give no parole." " Think of it 
better, sir," said the officer; "a second refusal 
will fix your doom ; a dungeon will be your 
habitation." " Prepare it, then," said the 
sturdy patriot ; " I shall give no parole, so help 



f: 


' h 


i. . V 


i 


V f 


f 




CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN 121 

me God." He was thrown into a dungeon, 
and for nearly a year was not once allowed 
to see the light of day, and was allowed no 
intercourse with his fellow prisoners. He 
was finally exchanged and returned home. 

AVhen, after the war, it was proposed to 
confiscate the property of the Loyalists, Gads- 
den opposed the measure. He was also 
opposed to exiling the Loyalists. 

He served in several conventions after the 
Kevolution. He was elected governor, but 
declined to serve on account of age and in- 
firmity. At his death, which occurred when 
he was more than eighty years old, he was 
buried in St. Philip's churchyard, in Charles- 
ton. His request was that his grave should 
be leveled to the ground and left unmarked. 




Henry Laurens. 

XIV. HENRY LAURENS 

The first national Thanksgiving in America 
was held at the suggestion of Henry Laurens 
of South Carolina. It was when he was 
president of the Continental Congress during 
the Revolution. The president of the Con- 
tinental Congress was then the executive head 
of the nation. 

The arms of the colonies had met with many 
reverses, and when the news of the surrender 
of Burgoyne came, Mr. Laurens, in a glow of 

122 



HENRY LAURENS 123 

delight, appointed a committee to draft a proc- 
lamation for a national Thanksgiving. Richard 
Henry Lee prepared it "m beautiful English 
of most religious sentiment," says a writer. 
The proclamation was sent to each of the 
colonial governors, with a personal letter 
from Mr. Laurens. The letter was dated 
November 1, 1777, and December 18th w^as 
to be the day observed. It took so long to 
get the proclamation to all the governors, 
that the day had to be set several weeks 
ahead. 

Laurens was an intimate friend of Christopher 
Gadsden. He was of a Huguenot family, and 
was educated in England. When the trouble 
with the mother-country came, he was at the 
head of a large commercial house in Charles- 
ton. He came in contact wdth all classes 
of people, and his great personal magnetism 
attached to him all who came in contact 
with him. He could adapt himself to old or 
young, and could be good company for grave 



124 PALMETTO STORIES 

men, gay men, men of business, or men of 
leisure. 

His orderly habits and his energy were 
widely known. "The sun, when it got up, 
in winter or in summer, never found him in 
bed." It was said of him that he worked so 
hard himself, that all who were associated 
with him were ashamed not to do so. 

In 1774 Mr. Laurens was in London. He 
was one of the thirty Americans who presented 
a petition to Parliament against the passage of 
the Boston Port Bill. He used all the influence 
he could command to check Great Britain's 
arbitrary measures against the colonies. 
When forced to believe that nothing could 
be done, Mr. Laurens came back to South 
Carolina. He was not hopeful. He did not 
believe the colonies could win independence, 
but he felt that their cause was a just one, 
and he joined his life and fortune to theirs. 
He thus wrote to a friend : " I have been a 
faithful subject of England, but the Ministers 



HENRY LAURENS 125 

are deaf, and bent on provoking an unneces- 
sary contest. I now go to labor for peace, 
but I shall stand or fall with my country." 

Mr. Laurens was made president of the Pro- 
vincial Congress of South Carolina before the 
colonies had united in a confederation. He 
was one of the delegates to the first Con- 
tinental Congress, and was a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence. He was elected 
president of the Continental Congress on the 
resignation of Samuel Adams. He resigned 
this post to undertake a mission from the 
colonies to Holland. This was to make a 
commercial treaty with the Netherlands. The 
vessel on which he sailed was seized by a 
British frigate. Mr. Laurens threw his official 
papers overboard, but an English sailor jumped 
into the water and recovered them. In con- 
sequence of what these papers revealed a 
declaration of war against Holland was made 
by England. 

Mr. Laurens was imprisoned in the Tower 



126 PALMETTO STORIES 

of London. His treatment was very similar 
to that received by his friend Christopher 
Gadsden at St. Augustine. He was not 
allowed the use of writing material, and was 
treated with great indignity. He w^as offered 
a free pardon several times, if he would give 
up the American cause. His health was 
broken down by the hardships which he was 
suffering, but he declined every offer. " I 
shall never subscribe," he said, "to my own 
infamy and the dishonor of my children." 

Mr. Laurens was told of the surrender of 
Charleston, assured of the hopelessness of the 
American cause, and offered pardon if he 
would serve the British Ministry. He would 
not yield. Then he was threatened with 
the confiscation of his large estates. '^ None 
of these things move me " was his quiet 
answer. 

The wardens of the Tower asked Mr. Lau- 
rens to pay for their attendance on him. 
With a dry humor, not relished by the war- 



HENRY LAURENS 129 

dens, he said : " I never asked the attendance 
of the wardens. I should be very glad to 
dispense with their services, and I decline to 
pay for them." 

The surrender of Cornwallis led to the re- 
lease of Laurens in exchanQ:e for that officer. 
He w^as at once requested by the American 
government to go to Paris to meet Adams, 
Jay, and Franklin, to sign the preliminary 
treaty of peace between England and the 
United States. 

Just at the close of the war John Laurens, 
the eldest son of Henry Laurens, w^as killed 
in a skirmish on the coast of South Carolina. 
The father was already a prematurely aged 
man from his long confinement and the hard- 
ships he had undergone in the Tower. The 
death of his son broke his heart. South 
Carolina offered him everj^ honor in the gift 
of the people, but he declined to serve again 
in any office. 

By his will, his son was directed to have 



130 PALMETTO STORIES 

the father's body wrajoped in twelve yards of 
cloth coated with resin, and then burned. 
This is one of the earliest instances of cre- 
mation in the United States. 




John Rutledge. 



XV. JOHN RUTLEDGE 



THE DICTATOR 



A WELL-KNOWN historian of the United 
States says : " No national movement was made 
in the beginning of our government, where the 
name of Rutledge was not found." 

There were five brothers — sons of a widow 
— John, Edward, Hugh, Andrew, and Thomas. 

131 



132 PALMKTTO STORIES 

The most distinguished of the five was John, 
who was also the eldest. He was sent to 
England to be educated. After graduation he 
studied law, and was entered as a student at 
the Temple in London. He was licensed as a 
barrister, and returned to South Carolina fif- 
teen years before the adoption of the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

In his first case " he astonished the court 
and the jury." At once he was placed, by the 
judgment of the people, at the head of his 
profession. He was overrun with work, for 
he was not only a man of great eloquence, 
but a profound lawyer. 

At first he clung loyally to the British 
government. But in 1764, when the royal 
governor, Thomas Boone, refused to allow 
Christopher Gadsden to qualify in the Assem- 
bly, Rutledge gave vent to his indignation in 
a burst of moving eloquence. From that 
moment he believed that the colonies should 
battle for their rights. 



JOHN RUTLEDGE 133 

In the congress called by Massachusetts to 
meet m New York, a historian says of him, 
'^ The brilliancy of liis genius, the boldness of 
his ideas, the variety of his information, the 
beauty and power of his diction, made the 
deepest impression on the body." This con- 
gress was composed of the leading men of 
each colony represented. Patrick Henry was 
asked, on his return home, who he thought 
were the greatest men in the congress. " If 
you speak of eloquence," he answered, " John 
Rutledge of South Carolina ; he w^as the 
greatest orator. But for sound judgment, 
George Washington." The business men of 
the congress were notably John Adams and 
John Rutledge. 

.To recount the services of Rutledge to 
South Carolina would be to write the story 
of the Revolution in the colony. In 1778 he 
resigned the governorship, but a year later 
was re-elected, and was given so unlimited 
powers that he was called the Dictator. It 



134 PALMETTO STORIES 

should be remembered that he never for one 
moment abused this great power. 

When, after the fall of Charleston, South 
Carolina was overrui^ by the enemy, he 
showed his claim to statesmanship. He of- 
fered a free pardon to all who had been 
Loyalists, but would now enlist for six months 
in defense of their homes. 

His resource was displayed in getting out 
this proclamation of pardon. He could get no 
type for printing it. The only presses were in 
Charleston, and in the hands of the enemy. 
In the command of General Marion was a 
gunsmith named McElroy. Rutledge sent for 
him, and told him he wished him to make 
some type. The man had never seen any. 
But Rutledge explained so clearly, and de- 
scribed so exactly, what was wanted, that 
McElroy knew what to do. He got a number 
of pewter basins, pewter spoons, and pewter 
plates ; then he went to work melting 
the metal and forming the type, which served 



JOHN RUTLEDGE 135 

the purpose. Rutledge got the proclamation 
printed, and sent it broadcast through the 
province. Many men, exasperated by British 
oppression and Tory cruelty, came into the 
patriot ranks and helped to turn the for- 
tunes of war. 

After the formation of the Union, Rutledge 
was made one of the associate justices of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. Later 
he was made chief justice of South Carolina. 
In 1795 he was appointed chief justice of 
the United States, but his appointment was 
never confirmed by the Senate. Soon his 
brain, overworked in the public service, became 
clouded. Before he reached the age of sixty 
the great John Rutledge became as a little 
child in mind, and remained so until his death, 
in 1800. 



XVI. RAWLINS LOWNDES 

THE FIRST NULLIFIER 

FiERYj daring, stern, autocratic old Raw- 
lins Lowndes stands out in bold relief on the 
canvas in the picture of South Carolina. 

He was a judge in the province of South 
Carolina under the Royal government. At 
the time of the Stamp Act, the chief justice 
of the province held that the use of stamped 
paper was necessary for legal documents. 
Lowndes declared that stamped paper was 
not necessary to make a document legal. He 
supported this view by an elaborately written 
paper. He advised resistance to the Stamp 
Act, and urged that action should be taken 
by the Assembly of the province to nullify 
this act of the British Parliament. 

136 



RAWLINS LOWNDES 137 

At first he opposed the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, but finally supported it. When in 
1778 John Rutledge resigned the governorship 
of South Carolina, Rawlins Lowndes was 
elected his successor. For a year he admin- 
istered public affairs with ability. After his 
term as governor had expired, he was elected 
a member of the General Assembly. After the 
province had been partly recovered from the 
British and the Tories, the General Assembly 
was called to meet at Jacksonboro. The ob- 
ject of the meeting was to restore the confi- 
dence of the people in the authorities of the 
colony. 

All of Mr. Lowndes's horses had been taken 
by the Tories. Besides, he was now suffering 
from the gout, and could not ride on 
horseback. The resolute old man had six 
oxen hitched to his high coach, and then set 
out in it for Jacksonboro. His great grand- 
daughter draws a very amusing picture of the 
old man as he meets Mrs. Horry on the way. 



138 PALMETTO STORIES 

The oxen are plodding along in a zigzag way 
from one side of the road to the other, the 
coach swinging back and forth, and half a dozen 
negro drivers alongside the oxen are shouting 
to them and prodding them. Mr. Lowndes, 
with his powdered head stuck out of the 
coach window, is apologizing profusely to Mrs. 
Horry for being in her way and obstruct- 
ing the road. After all, his progress was so 
slow that the Assembly reprimanded him for 
not being punctual. He answered that he 
had come as fast as he could, and that he 
could prove it by Mrs. Horry, whom he had 
met on the way. 

In the legislature Lowndes bitterly opposed 
calling a convention to adopt the Constitution 
of the United States. Ten men, among them 
his old friends, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
Christopher Gadsden, and John Rutledge, bat- 
tled against him. At last, in protest, he 
said : " The only epitaph which I ask to be 
written on my tomb shall be, ^Here lies a 



KAWLINS LOWNDES 139 

man who opposed the Constitution of the 
United States, because it is dangerous to the 
liberties of America.' " He was a man of 
marked character and a devoted patriot. 

He was married three times. The first 
wife, whose name was Amarintha, lived a 
very short time after her marriage, but her 
memory did not fade. As a very old man 
he gave to his youngest child, the son of his 
third wife, a silver waiter. With the gift he 
said : " It was Amarintha's. If you ever have 
a daughter, name her Amarintha, and give it 
to her." This son was the eminent William 
Lowndes. 




Francis Marion. 



XVII. FRANCIS MARION 



THE SWAMP FOX OF CAROLINA 



The victory of Fort Moultrie relieved 
South Carolina for three years from warfare 
within her own borders. But in 1779 the 
British under Prevost invested Charleston, and 
but for American reinforcements the town 

140 



FRANCIS MARION 141 

would have been taken. In 1780 the town 
was besieged, and fell after resisting nearly 
two months. The American forces, together 
with many citizens, were made prisoners. 
Sixty prominent men, after being paroled, 
were arrested and sent to St. Augustine, 
Florida, as prisoners of war. 

The British were anything but generous. 
They demanded that every man must bear 
arms for the king, or be classed as a rebel. 
The British dragoons and the Tories went 
through the country plundering, and commits 
ting outrages of almost every conceivable 
kind. No atrocities were too great to be 
committed by the British soldiers when they 
overran South Carolina. Quantities of silver 
plate were carried off. Several families lost 
each from five hundred to two thousand 
dollars' worth. Negroes by hundreds w^ere 
shipped to the West Indies, and sold to the 
planters on the islands. Horses were taken, 
and stock was wantonly killed. The most 



142 PALMETTO STORIES 

senseless indignities were offered in the dese- 
cration of sacred things. Ministers of the 
gospel were insulted — even murdered ; Bibles 
were burned ; and churches were used for 
stables. Cruelty in battle amounted to brutal 
massacre. Quarter was refused to men after 
surrender. 

In the upper part of the colony many 
persons had not taken sides in the war before 
the fall of Charleston. But the injustice of 
the British demands, and the breach of faith 
with those who had been paroled in Charles- 
ton, made these men of upper Carolina hesi- 
tate no longer. These outrages roused the 
people, and under the leadership of Francis 
Marion, Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens, 
men banded themselves together to fight for 
their homes, their firesides, and their liberty. 
Without these patriot leaders of South Caro- 
lina and their followers, the independence of 
the colonies would never have been gained. 

By a strange accident Marion was not 



FRANCIS MARION 143 

among those who surrendered in Charleston. 
During the siege there was a dinner to which 
he was invited. According to a custom then 
observed, after dinner the dining-room door 
was locked to compel all the guests to stay 
to drink toasts. Often the men drank too 
much. Marion did not approve of the cus- 
tom, and to avoid drinking, went quietly to 
a window and jumped out into the street. 
The dining-room was on the second floor, 
and in alighting he broke his ankle. He w^as 
carried to his country home, and was absent 
from the town when the other patriots were 
captured. As soon as he was able to use his 
foot, he gathered a small band of men to 
fight the Royalists. 

Francis Marion was the son of one of the 
Huguenots. He was born in Berkeley county 
in 1732 — the year in which Washington was 
born. As a man, he was small of size and 
ugly, but brave and watchful. Before the 
fall of Charleston he had had some military 



144 PALMETTO STORIES 

experience. He had served in the war against 
the Cherokees, and was an officer at the 
battle of Fort Moultrie. 

In Berkeley county and the surrounding 
section there were many swamps. Most of 
them were uncleared and very hard to get 
through or even to enter. Marion and his 
men knew these swamps well and how to get 
through them. They would hide in them ; 
then, when least looked for, come out sud- 
denly and attack the British ; then vanish 
into the thickets of cypress and pine, where 
the enemy were afraid to follow. His scouts 
had devised signals known only to their band. 
They would hoot like an owl, scream like a 
panther, or chatter like a squirrel. In this 
way they could give information of the 
enemy — their numbers and position — with- 
out being seen. 

Marion and his band offered for a time the 
only resistance met with in South Carolina by 
the British after the fall of Charleston. It was 



FRANCIS MARION 145 

a strange-looking band which he led. Marion 
himself is described as wearing a round-bodied 
crimson jacket, made of coarse cloth, and a 
leather cap with a silver crescent. Sometimes 
not more than twenty men and boys (some 
of them negroes) made up his troop. They 
were armed with any weapons which they 
could lay their hands on. 

His men were often allow^ed to go home 
to look after their families and their crops. 
But when there was a good opportunity to 
attack the enemy, they came to camp at the 
call of their leader. Then, perhaps with a 
hundred men, he w^ould pounce upon the 
British. He w\as cautious when necessary, but 
daring when he could profit by boldness. With- 
out excitement he would go into a desperate 
venture ; then coolly withdraw his men if he 
saw that success was dubious. 

Tarleton, a British colonel of dragoons, 
was sent to capture Marion. Tarleton w^as 
worn out by his failures in various plans to 



146 PALMETTO STORIES 

seize him. He gave up the chase, saying, 
" We'll never catch the plaguy swamp-fox ; 
the devil himself couldn't do it." 

The country from Camden to the seacoast, 
between the Pee Dee and the Santee rivers, 
was the field of his exploits. In the recesses 
of a swamp Marion had a camp called Snow 
Island Camp. In it he stored any provisions, 
arms, or goods which he could secure. This 
was his headquarters. An anecdote is told of 
a British officer who was sent to Marion to 
treat for the exchange of some prisoners. 
After the business was transacted, Marion 
courteously asked the officer to take dinner. 
All that the patriots had to eat was sweet 
potatoes roasted in the ashes. " Surely," said 
the officer, " this is not your usual fare." 
"Yes," replied Marion, with a smile, "and, as 
we have company for dinner, we are lucky to 
have a larger supply than usual." The story 
runs that the officer went back and resigned 
from the British army, declaring that men 



FRANCIS MARION 147 

who suffered sucli privations cheerfully could 
never be conquered. 

Francis Marion was one of the most fasci- 
nating; characters of the Eevolution. His 
gentleness toward the enemy when the latter 
were in his power denoted his noble character. 
Instead of imitating the cruelty of Tarleton, 
he used his influence always for mercy toward 
the prisoners, w^hether they were English or 
Tories. 

When the war was over, he was elected a 
member of the state legislature, and there he 
voted against confiscating the property of the 
Royalists. A bill was offered that Marion, 
Sumter, and Pickens, as military commanders, 
should not be held legally responsible for any 
property which they might have impressed 
during the war. In the debate Marion said, 
" I am friendly to the bill ; I think it right 
and just ; but I ask that my name be ex- 
punged from the bill." After a pause he 
added : "If I at any time have given occasion 



148 PALMETTO STORIES 

for complaint, I am ready to answer in prop- 
erty and person. If I have wronged any 
man, I wish to make restitution." 

After the war General Marion married, and 
lived in St. John's, Berkeley. He had no 
children. He was not an old man when he 
died, being only sixty-three years of age. A 
few days before his death he said, ^' Death 
may be to others a leap in the dark, but I 
rather consider it a resting-place, where old 
age may throw off its burdens." His last 
words were, " I thank God that since I came 
to man's estate I have never intentionally 
done wrong to any." 

" Francis Marion's soul was his country's ; 
his pride, the rigid observance of her laws ; 
his ambition, to defend her rights, and 
preserve unspotted her honor and her fame. 
It would have been as easy to turn the sun 
from his course as Marion from the path of 
honor." 



XVIII. MCDONALD'S RAID 

Georgetown was in the hands of the 
British and was garrisoned by three hun- 
dred soldiers. Sergeant McDonald was one 
of Marion's men. With a force of only 
four troopers he made a raid through George- 
town. It was one of the most daring deeds 
of the Revolution. 



I remember it well ; 'twas a morn dull and gray, 
And the legion lay idle and listless that day. 
A thin drizzle of rain piercing chill to the soul, 
And with not a spare bumper to brighten the bowl, 
When McDonald arose, and unsheathing his blade, 
Cried, " Who'll back me, brave comrades ? I'm hot 

for a raid. 
Let the carbines be loaded, and the war-harness ring, 
Then swift death to the redcoats, and down with 

the king ! " 

149 



150 PALMETTO STORIES 

II 

We leaped up at his summons, all eager and bright, 

To our finger-tips thrilling to join him in fight; 

Yet he chose from our number four men, and no 

more. 
" Stalwart brothers," quoth he, " you'll be strong as 

fourscore. 
If you'll follow me fast wheresoever I lead, 
With keen sword and true pistol, stanch heart and 

bold steed. 
Let the carbines be loaded, the bridle-bits ring. 
Then swift death to the redcoats, and down with 

the king ! " 

III 

In a trice we were mounted ; McDonald's tall form 
Seated firm in the saddle, his face like a storm 
When the clouds on Ben-Lomond ^ hang heavy and 

dark, 
And the red veins of lightning pulse hot through 

the dark ; 
His left hand on his sword-belt, his right lifted free. 
With a touch from the spurred heel, a touch from 

the knee, 
His lithe Arab was off like an eagle on wing — 
" Ha ! death, death to the redcoats, and down with 

the king ! " 

1 A mountain of Scotland. 



McDonald's raid 151 

IV 

'Twas three leagues to the town, where, in insolent 

pride 
Of their disciplined numbers, their works strong 

and wide. 
The big Britons, oblivious of warfare and arms, 
A soft dolce were wrapped in, not dreaming of 

harms. 
When fierce yells, as if borne on some fiend-ridden 

rout, 
With strange cheer after cheer, are heard echoing 

without. 
Over which, like the blast of ten trumpeters, ring 
"Death, death to the redcoats, and down with the 

king ! " 

V 

Such a tumult we raised with steel, hoof-stroke and 

shout. 
That the foemen made straight for their inmost 

redoubt ; 
And therein, with pale lips and cowed spirits, quoth 

they, 
" Lord, the whole rebel army assaults us to-day. 
Are the works, think you, strong ? God of heaven, 

what a din ! 
'Tis the front wall besieged — have the rebels 

rushed in ? 



152 PALMETTO STORIES 

It must be ; for, Lark ! liark to that jubilant ring 
Of ' Death to the redcoats, and down with the 
king!'" 

VI 

Meanwhile, through the town like a whirlwind we 

sped. 
And ere long be assured that our broadswords were 

red ; 
And the ground here and there by an ominous stain 
Showed how the stark soldier beside it was slain : 
A fat sergeant-major, who yawed like a goose, 
With his waddling bow-legs, and his trappings all 

loose. 
By one back-handed blow the McDonald cuts down, 
To the shoulder-blade cleaving him sheer through 

the crown. 
And the last words that greet his dim consciousness 

ring 
With "Death, death to the redcoats, and down 

with the king ! " 

VII 

Having cleared all the street — not an enemy left 
Whose heart was unpierced, or whose head-piece 

uncleft. 
What should we do next, but — as careless and 

calm 
As if we were scenting a summer morn's balm 



McDonald's raid 153 

'Mid a land of pure peace — just serenely drop down 
On a few constant friends who still stopped in the 

town. 
What a welcome they gave us ! One dear little 

thing, — 
As I kissed her sweet lips, did I dream of the 

king ? — 

VIII 

Of the king or his minions ? No ; war and its 
scars 

Seemed as distant just then as the fierce front of 
Mars 

From a love-girdled earth ; but, alack ! on our bliss. 

On the close clasp of arms and kiss showering on 
kiss, 

Broke the rude bruit of battle, the rush thick and 
fast 

Of the Britons made 'ware of our rash ruse at 
last ; 

So we haste to our coursers, yet flying, we fling 

The old watch-words abroad, " Down with the red- 
coats and king ! " 

IX 

As we scampered pell-mell o'er the hard beaten 

track 
We had traversed that morn, we glanced momently 

back, 



154 PALMETTO STORIES 

And beheld their earth-works all compassed in 
flame : 

With a vile plunge and hiss the huge musket- 
balls came, 

And the soil was plowed up, and the space 'twixt 
the trees 

Seemed to hum with the war-song of Brobdingnag 
bees; 

Yet above them, beyond them, victoriously ring 

The shouts, " Death to the redcoats, and down with 
the king ! " 

X 

Ah ! that was a feat, lads, to boast of! What men 
Like you weaklings to-day had durst cope with us 

then ? 
Though I say it, who should not, I am ready to vow 
I'd o'ermatch a half score of your fops even now — 
The poor puny prigs, mincing up, mincing down. 
Through the whole wasted day the thronged streets 

of the town : 
Why, their dainty white necks 'twere but pastime to 

wring — 
Ay ! my muscles are firm still ; I fought 'gainst 

the king. 




General Sumter. 



XIX. THOMAS SUMTER 



THE GAMECOCK OF CAROLINA 



Thomas Sumter was by birth a Virginian. 
In early manhood he had fought against the 
French and the Indians. He had been sent as 
a commissioner to the Cherokee Indians, and had 
gone with the chiefs on an embassy to England, 
in 1762. After his return he married in 
South Carolina, and settled in the colony. 

At the beginning of the Revolution he joined 
the American side, and was at the battle of 
Fort Moultrie as a lieutenant-colonel. A year 

155 



156 PALMETTO STORIES 

later great family afflictions caused him to 
resign from the army. He remained at liome 
mitil the British began to overrun South Car- 
olina. As was the case with General Marion, 
this was most fortunate for the American 
cause, as Sumter too thus escaped capture at 
the fall of Charleston. 

After its fall the outrages committed by Tarle- 
ton's men and other British troops fired Sumter's 
soul afresh. Governor Rutledge had withdrawn 
to North Carolina for safety ; Sumter went to 
him and offered his services. The governor 
eagerly commissioned him to return to South 
Carolina to raise what trooj^s he could to re- 
sist the British and the Tories. From that 
time until the war was over, Sumter devoted 
himself to the service of his country in her 
struggles for independence. By his personal 
character he attached to himself a set of reso- 
lute men. These men had banded themselves 
together under Thomas, Brandon, Lacey, Bratton 
and others, who gladly acknowledged Sumter 



THOMAS SUMTER 157 

as their leader. Determined to gain success, 
he risked his own life and the lives of his asso- 
ciates. His attacks on the enemy were impet- 
uous, almost rash, but he often gained what a 
cautious man would not have attempted. 

Unlike Marion he lost fights, but he was 
not discouraged, and was just as eager for 
another fight when an opportunity w^as given. 
On account of this unyielding pluck, Tarleton 
nicknamed hhn the Gamecock of Carolina. He 
w^as a large man — heroic and stern — six feet 
two inches in height, and weighing two hun- 
dred and fifty pounds. 

The tall backwoodsmen who came into his 
ranks were described as men " ready to scalp 
an Indian, to hug a bear, to fight the fiercest 
Tories or best equipped British dragoons." It 
is no wonder that Cornwallis called Sumter 
the " greatest plague " of the British army. 

A good story is told of the recruiting of men 
for his service. One of Sumter's favorite 
colonels was Edward Lacey of York county. 



158 PALMETTO STORIES 

Sumter sent him out for recruits, telling him 
to bring in within three days one hundred and 
fifty men. Lacey chose three men to help 
liim, and separately they went out into the 
by-w^ays of York, Chester, Lancaster, and 
Fairfield. A meeting j)lace for the third day 
had been agreed upon. Nearly every man 
and boy in these covmties had been found 
ready to unhitch his horse from the plow, 
pick up an old musket, rifle, or reaping-hook, 
and join Sumter's mounted infantry. 

When Lacey and his men met at the place 
appointed, the full number desired had been 
gathered. It was a hot day, and Lacey wished 
to keep up the spirits of the recruits for the 
long ride to Sumter's camp. He announced 
that when they reached Mobley's Meeting-house 
he would halt, and let all dismount and rest 
for half an hour. Mobley's was about fifteen 
miles away — near Winnsboro. When he got 
there, he found a barrel of whisky, which he 
bought, rolled into the road, knocked the head 



THOMAS SUMTER 159 

out, and told the men to help themselves. 
It was a scramble to get drinking vessels, 
but the men managed to help themselves liber- 
ally. Boots and saddles sounded, and the band 
rode off in gay spirits. 

From the top of the next hill Lacey saw 
the red coats of a troop of British at some 
distance. He knew that his men were not 
ready for a fight, and was just about to give 
the order to turn into the woods, when an 
Irishman saw the enemy. '^ Redcoats, colonel ! " 
he shouted. " By Saint Patrick, we'll give them 
a clatter ! " He dashed forward, followed 
recklessly by the full band — too full of Dutch 
courage ^ to realize their danger. 

Lacey w^as on a fine horse, and galloped on 
ahead to share the danger of the men for whom 
he felt responsible. At the foot of the hill they 
were out of sight of the British. The quick 
wit of Lacey took advantage of this to save 
his party. He turned his horse into a cross- 

1 Bravery inspired by liquor. 



160 PALMETTO STORIES 

road. " This way, boys ! " he shouted as he 
galloped on. " This way ; the British are just 
ahead ! " The men were not sober enough to 
detect his trick, and they followed him at full 
gait. Lacey did not slacken rein until he rode 
into camp and reported to Sumter. 

The general laughed heartily. " Well done, 
Lacey ! Tell the commissary to give your men 
a good supper — double rations, but no more 
whisky to-night." 

One of the hardest fights in which Sumter 
engaged was at Blackstock in Union county. 
Black stock was a large tobacco-house built 
near Tyger River. Between the house and the 
river was a hill, and near by thick brush- 
wood. 

General Sumter knew of the approach of 
Tarleton, and had posted his men to the best 
advantage. It was late in the afternoon when 
Tarleton began his attack. He made a rapid 
charge through a field upon the patriots who 
were in view. But Lacey' s men were hidden 



THOMAS SUMTER 161 

from the British by the woods in which they 
were stationed, and they fired on the advanc- 
ing enemy. Twenty of tlie British fell, and 
about as many horses were killed. Tarleton's 
cavalry were afraid to attack the men in the 
woods, so they pressed forward through the 
lane. They fell so thick from the sharp fire 
of the men in ambush that the dead and 
dying fairly blocked the road. The Americans 
who were in the tobacco-house shot through 
the cracks between the logs. . Tarleton so 
sorely beset fell back, but re-formed his men 
and returned to the charge. The fire of 
Sumter's men, however, continued so deadly 
that Tarleton had again to retreat. Some of 
the Americans pursued him and captured 
thirty horses. 

Sumter, while leading his men in action, was 
severely wounded in the shoulder. He quietly 
asked an aid to put his sword into its scab- 
bard. "Don't let the men know," he said. 
"Ask Colonel Twiggs to take command." 



162 PALMETTO STORIES 

He called a man to lead his horse, and with- 
drew without being observed. 

Great courage was General Sumter's leading 
characteristic. He was not afraid of responsi- 
bility, and he risked his judgment as he risked 
his life. " His campaigns," says the historian 
Bancroft, " led up to the victories which not 
only redeemed South Carolina from British 
rale, but gained the independence of America." 

Sumter was a forceful speaker, and was 
always a popular man in the state. After 
the Revolution he was elected to the United 
States Congress. He lived to be over ninety 
years of age and kept his faculties until his 
death. 




Andrew Pickens. 

XX. ANDREW PTCKENS 

After the close of the French and Indian 
War in 1759, many of the Scotch-Irish who 
had settled in Pennsylvania removed to South 
Carolina. Andrew Pickens belonged to one of 
these families. He was a younger man than 
Marion or Sumter, but saw his first military 
service in 1761, in the campaign against the 

163 



164 PALMETTO STORIES 

Cherokee Indians, in which Marion took his 
first lessons in warfare. 

He was made a major in a brigade nnder 
General Williamson, who was sent to pnt 
down the Cherokees. The little army halted 
for a few days' rest, and Williamson sent 
forward Major Pickens with twenty-five men, 
on foot, as scouts. Only two miles from 
camp, while going through a field grown up 
in grass four to five feet high, on a ridge 
near by they discovered about two hundred 
Indians in their war-paint. The Indians were 
armed with guns. When the chief caught 
sight of the white men, he called out to his 
braves : '' Do not shoot ; there are only a few 
whites. Let us tomahawk them ! " 

In Pickens's party there was a half-breed 
who understood the Cherokee language, and 
he told Pickens what the chief had ordered. 
At once Pickens's cool courage suggested the 
best way to meet the attack. He said to his 
men : " Don't fire until I do ; then two at a 



ANDREW PICKENS 165 

time take fair aim, fire, and fall down in the 
grass; and lie there until you can reload 
your guns. While you are reloading let the 
next two fire -, and so on." 

He waited until the Indians were within 
about twenty-five yards ; then Pickens fired, 
and fell in the grass ; the others fired as he 
had directed. The firing of the white men 
was so unexpected, and the aim was so deadly, 
that the savages dropped their tomahawks 
and began to shoot. Pickens and his men 
reloaded their guns and fired in the same 
deliberate fashion as before. The Indians 
became terror-stricken by the deadly fire of 
the whites, and fled to the mountains. 

In 1781 the Cherokees were influenced by 
the British again to take the war-path against 
the Americans. At once Pickens, then a colo- 
nel, got together a body of mounted militia. 
Some of the men had guns, but many of 
them had nothing but cutlasses made in the 
country blacksmith shops. With this troop, 



166 PALMETTO STORIES 

thus armed, Pickens undertook to drive back 
the savages. He first came up with the In- 
dians in a field of sedge and undergrowth. 
" Now, my men," said he, " the Indians are 
poor marksmen ; let them shoot first ; then 
rush up until you can see the whites of their 
eyes ; then fire." 

After firing, the militia rushed on the sav- 
ages with their cutlasses, and hewed them 
down right and left, with such slaughter that 
the Cherokees fled. Pickens destroyed their 
fields, burned their towns, and took a number 
of prisoners. The Indians soon sued for 
peace, and promised not to be induced again 
by the -British to molest the Americans. 

Pickens lived in the northwestern part of 
South Carolina, where the people were not 
united in the cause of the colonies against 
Great Britain. But he had espoused the 
American side, and had used his influence to 
induce others to do so. After the fall of 
Charleston, however, there seemed so little 



ANDREW PICKENS 167 

liope for independence that Colonel Pickens 
decided to take protection from the British. 
He regretted having done so when Marion 
and Sumter had gained some success. He 
was urged to take up arms again and to join 
the patriots. 

However much Pickens loved the cause of 
liberty, he loved honor even more. Because 
he had taken the oath, he felt that he could 
not break his parole. 

However, a troop of marauding Loyalists 
visited his home in his absence, insulted his 
wife and family, plundered his premises, and 
carried off his stock. He felt that this out- 
rage released him from his parole. He at once 
went to Colonel Cruger, a British officer, 
and told him his intention of again joining 
the patriots. " If you should be taken pris- 
oner, you would be hanged," said Cruger ; 
"nothing could save you." The warning had 
no effect, and Pickens at once announced to 
his neighbors his intention. 



168 PALMETTO STORIES 

His reentering the service was a great gain 
to the American canse. He was a man of 
courage and honor^ and had the confidence of 
all who knew him. Many of the best men 
of his section at once joined the j^atriots, for 
almost all had suffered from recent Tory out- 



rages. 



He was made a general and joined General 
Morgan. When Tarleton was pursuing the 
Americans, before the battle of Covypens, 
Pickens induced Morgan to make a stand. 
He said : " Let us not cross the river ; ^ my 
men will suppose that we are retreating, and 
will be discouraged. These men know noth- 
ing of discij^line. They have come to fight; 
if they get scattered, they will want to go 
home." 

Morgan decided not to move on, but to 
give fight. During the night he and Pickens 
went among the soldiers to encourage them 
for the next day's fight. " We are going to 

1 Broad River. 




Monument to General Morgan, Spartanburg. 



ANDREW PICKENS 171 

fight to-morrow," said Pickens. " Stand fire 
as long as you can, men. Don't shoot until 
the enemy are within thirty paces of you. 
You can dodge behind trees and stand it; 
but when you can't stand any more, don't run. 
Quietly retreat; then form again on the left 
and the right of the regular troops. Mark 
the epauletted men and shoot at them." ^ 

It was about eight o'clock in the morning 
that the British came in sight of the Ameri- 
cans, at the Cowpens, on Broad River. 
Tarleton rushed into action with a huzza, 
expecting to carry everything before him. The 
Americans met him with deliberate courage. 
The militia, under Pickens, kept their line 
with coolness, and fired when the British had 
come within good rauge. So fatal was their 
work, that one of the officers of the Maryland 
troops said, '' The militia gained the battle." 

Their obedience in aiming at the epauletted 
men resulted in the killing and wounding of 

1 Epaulettes are worn only by officers. 



172 



PALMETTO STORIES 




CowPKNS Battlefield Monument. 



a large number of 
British officers. 
Tarleton ordered 
his men to charge 
bayonets. This 
was too much for 
untrained soldiers, 
and Pickens's men 
ran. Then it was 
that he did what 
few commanders 
have ever done — 
he rallied raw 
troops in full re- 
treat, and they 
came boldly back 
to fight. Cowpens 
was a glorious 
victory for the 
Americans. Con- 
gress voted a 
medal to General 



ANDRE\Y PICKENS 173 

Morgan, and to General Pickens, a sword. 
At Eutaw Springs Pickens received a wound. 
After the war he served the state well in 
various positions. In 1816 he was elected 
governor. 

The names of Marion, Sumter, and Pickens 
are found in many states as the names of 
counties, towns, and post offices. This honor 
is but a fit recognition of what these men did 
for their country. 



XXI. BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN 

The battle of King's Mountain was the 
turning-point in the American Revolution. 
For several months during the year 1780 
Colonel Ferguson had been overrunning the 
upper part of South Carolina. The bitterest 
of the Tories had joined him, and there was 
no end to the wanton cruelty and pillage 
that followed his march. 

The outlook in the southern colonies for 
the American cause was indeed gloomy. 
Ferguson was pushing on toward North 
Carolina. The patriots of that colony and 
of Virginia felt that their turn was coming, 
and that the marauding army would march 
on them. They determined to raise forces 
to oppose it. For this purpose a number 
of mountain men gathered under Colonels 

174 



BATTLE OF KING's MOUNTAIN 175 

William Campbell, John Sevier, and Isaac 
Shelby. 

When the patriot leaders of South Caro- 
lina heard of this gathering of troops, it 
was a source of great encouragement to them. 

Ferguson heard of the plan to attack him, 
and fixed his camp on a spur of King's 
Mountain. The mountain is only about fif- 
teen miles in length. The battle ground is 
in York county ; the pinnacle is on the North 
Carolina side. Ferguson thought that he had 
selected a strong position, and made the 
wicked boast that God himself could not 
drive him from it. 

The patriots of Virginia and the two Caro- 
lina s got together at Cowpens in South 
Carolina. In addition to the commands of 
Campbell, Sevier, and Shelby, there were 
those of Colonel James Williams, Colonel 
Benjamin Cleveland, Colonels Hill and Brat- 
ton, Major Joseph McDowell, Major Joseph 
Winston, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Ham- 



176 PALMETTO STORIES 

bright, Colonel Edward Lacey, and other 
smaller commands. Colonel Campbell of Vir- 
ginia was put in command of the entire force. 

The spot on which Ferguson had taken 
his stand has been described as a long stony 
ridge, very narrow at the top — so narrow 
that a man standing on it might be shot 
from either side. On the 7th of October, 
when the patriots came near the mountain, 
they halted, tied all loose baggage to tlieir 
saddles, left their horses in charge of a few 
men, and went forward to the attack. 

Colonel Campbell gave the command to the 
men to charge. " Shout like Indians and 
.fight like demons ! " Colonel Hambright had 
found out from a Tory lad that Ferguson 
wore a large duster over his bright uniform. 
So in his Pennsylvania German accent Ham- 
bright shouted to his men : " Well, poys, 
when you see dot man mit a pig shirt on 
over his clothes, you may know who him is, 
and mark him mit your rifles ! " 




H 

o 



H 

H 

H 

o 



BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN 179 

The patriots nearly surrounded Ferguson's 
army. The British and Tories formed in line, 
and fought desperately, but from their great 
elevation they shot over the attacking forces 
and killed but few. Several times the patriots 
were pushed back, but each time they rallied 
and charged again. In little more than an 
hour they had gained a complete victory. 
Ferguson fought bravely but was killed. His 
loss in men was heavy. 

An amusing story is told of one of Lacey's 
men. He was a true patriot at heart, but 
was unable to stand the smell of powder, and 
never failed to run at the first fire. On 
going into the battle of King's Mountain his 
friends advised him to stay out of the fight. 
" No," he said, " I am going to stand my 
ground to-day, live or die'' Sure enough, at 
the very first fire he took to his heels, as 
usual. After the battle was over, when he 
returned, his friends scolded him for his con- 
duct. " From the first fire I knew nothing 



180 PALMETTO STORIES 

at all till I was gone about a limidred and 
fifty yards ; and when I came to myself I 
tried to stop, hut my confounded legs ivould 
carry me off!'' 



XXII. FERGUSON'S DEFEAT 

(A iJALLAD often sung by old soldiers after the 
Revolution. The author is not known.) 

Come all of you good people, I pray you draw near ; 
A tragical story you quickly shall hear, 
Of Whigs and of Tories, how they bred a great strife, 
When they chased old Ferguson out of his life. 

We marched to the Co wpens ; brave Campbell was there, 
And Shelby, and Cleveland, and Colonel Sevier, 
Taking the lead of their bold mountaineers. 
Brave Indian fighters devoid of all fears. 

They were men of renown, like lions so bold, 
Lions undaunted, ne'er to be controlled ; 
They were bent on a game they had in their eye. 
Determined to take it — to conquer or die. 

We' marched from the Cowpens that very same night ; 
Sometimes we went wrong, but then we got right ; 
Our hearts being run in true Liberty's mold. 
We regarded not hunger, nor wet, nor cold. 

181 



182 PALMETTO STORIES 

Early next morning we came to the ford — 
Cherokee was its name, and Buford ^ the word. 
We marched through the river, with courage so free, 
Expecting the foemen we might quickly see. 

Like eagles a-hungry in search of their prey, 
We chased the old fox the best part of the day; 
At length on King's Mountain the old rogue we found, 
And we, like bold heroes, his camp did surround. 

The drums they did beat, and the guns they did rattle ; 
Our enemies stood us a very smart battle. 
Like lightning the flashes, like thunder the noise ; 
Such was the onset of our mountain boys. 

The battle did last the best part of an hour ; 
The guns they did roar, the bullets did shower ; 
With an oath in our hearts to conquer the field, 
We rushed on the Tories, resolved they should yield. 

We laid old Ferguson dead on the ground ; 
Four hundred and fifty dead Tories lay round. 
Making a large escort, if not so wise. 
To guide him to his chosen abode in the skies. 

Brave Colonel Williams and twenty-five more 
Of our brave heroes lay rolled in their gore ; 

'^Buford was the countersign that day 



FERGUSON'S DEFEAT 183 

With sorrow their bodies we laid in the clay, 

In hopes that to heaven their souls took their way. 

We shouted the victory that we did obtain ; 
Our voices were heard seven miles on the plain : 
'' Liberty shall stand ! And the Tories shall fall ! " 
Here's an end to my song, so God bless you all. 




Rebecca Motte. 



XXIII. A BRAVE WOMAN 



REBECCA MOTTE 



During the Revolution the women distin- 
guished themselves for their patriotism and 
courage. One of the noted women of South 
Carolina Avas Mrs. Rebecca Motte. She was 
a wealthy widow of Orangeburg county. About 
the time of the surrender of Charleston she 

184 



A BKAVE WOMAN 185 

had built a large house on her plantation. 
The mansion was an elegant one, and occupied 
a commanding place upon a high hill. 

A British officer named McPherson took 
possession of Mrs. Motte's new mansion as a 
garrison for his soldiers. He was not brutal 
like TarletoD, but he thought it necessary to 
fortify himself in her house to protect himself 
against the Americans. He fortified the house 
by digging a ditch and making a high embank- 
ment around it. This fortified dwelling was 
the British Fort Motte. 

Mrs. Motte was forced to move out of her 
new mansion, back into a smaller farmhouse 
which she had formerly occupied. McPherson 
politely helped her to move her household 
articles. In the house were a handsome bow 
and some arrows, brought from the East Indies 
some years before, and given to Mrs. Motte's 
brother. These had been forgotten, but her 
niece, Mrs. Brewton, remembered them and 
went back into the mansion for them. Near 



186 PALMETTO STORIES 

the gate she dropj)ed one of the arrows out of 
the quiver. McPherson picked it up, and was 
about to feel the point of it with his finger. 
" Stop, Lieutenant McPherson," said Mrs. 
Brew ton ; " tlie arrows are poisoned, and it 
might cost your arm or your life, if one should 
scratch you." 

Colonel Henry Lee and Marion, learning of 
McPherson' s garrison, determined to attack him 
before Lord Rawdon, the British commander, 
could come to his aid. They soon found, 
however, that their small cannon could not 
dislodge him, and that the only chance to make 
him surrender was to burn the house. 

To burn Mrs. Motte's mansion was a bitter 
trial to Colonel Lee. He had made her farm- 
house his headquarters at her own invitation, 
and she had shown every manner of kindness 
and hospitality to him and his men. She had 
aided the needy soldiers, and had visited the 
sick and wounded in camp. How could he tell 
her of his determination to burn the mansion ? 



A BRAVE WOMAN 187 

But before he announced to her his intention, 
she herself brought to him the East Indian bow 
and arrows, and told him to tie burning tow 
to the arrows, and with them to shoot fire npon 
the roof .^ 

A strong-armed Scotchman was given the 
bow. He tied tow soaked in turpentine to 
an arrow ; then lighted the tow and shot it 
upon the roof of the house. It was hot, dry 
weather, and the shingles were soon in 
flames. McPherson ordered his men to climb 
up and put out the fire, but Captain Finley 
opened with his battery, raking the building 
from end to end. The fire was soon so hot 
that McPherson was forced to surrender. 

After the surrender the soldiers of both 
armies rushed in and extinguished the flames. 
Two years later the mansion was accidentally 
burned. 

Mrs. Motte had prepared dinner to which 

^ As to the manner of firing the house there are several ver- 
sions, but they do not differ in any important respect. 



188 PALMETTO STORIES 

she asked both the American and British 
officers. When Lieutenant McPherson met 
Mrs. Brewton, he said, " You warned me of 
the poisoned arrow ; it would have been a 
kindness to let me die rather than know the 
mortification of surrender." Mrs. Motte 
turned to the vouniji; officer, and said, " Lieu- 
tenant McPherson, it is not dishonor. Think 
of surrender as I did of the burning of my 
house — that it is one of the fortunes of 
war." 

The cannon, a six-pounder, used at Fort 
Motte, is now in the keeping of a Mr. Hane 
of Fort Motte, South Carolina, and is a 
curiosity. 



XXIV. ANOTHER BRAVE WOMAN 

EMILY GEIGER 

The service done by Emily Geiger for 
South Carolina was all the more remarkable 
because she was a very young woman — only 
eighteen years old. Her father was a Ger- 
man farmer living in Lexington county. He 
was devoted to the American cause, but was 
too old for active service. 

General Greene, on his retreat from Ninety- 
Six in June, 1781, learned that the British 
commander, Lord Rawdon, was in pursuit. 
Sumter and Marion had planned to join 
Greene, and it was important to let them 
know of this unexpected movement of the 
British. A messenger would have to pass 
through the British lines in order to reach 

189 



190 PALMETTO STORIES 

Sumter's camp, and would run a great risk 
of being captured. 

Emily Geiger heard of Greene's need of a 
safe and speedy messenger. She went her- 
self to General Greene, and offered to carry 
the dispatch. Greene was delighted to accept 
her heroic offer ; at the same time he knew 
the danger of her being taken prisoner. He 
read to her the letter he wished her to carry. 
If she should be arrested, she could destroy 
the dispatch ; and yet, if she managed to get 
through the enemy's lines, she could give 
Sumter the information. 

It was a long and lonely ride which Emily 
undertook, but she did not falter. Her horse 
was strong, and she went on without hin- 
drance until after she had crossed the Con- 
garee River. On the edge of a dried-up 
swamp she was met by a small party of 
British. The scouts suspected the young 
girl riding alone on the dismal road. Emily 
boldly challenged them to bring a woman to 



ANOTHER BRAVE WOMAN 191 

search her. The men took her to a deserted 
cabin near by, fastened her in, left a guard, 
and went for some one to search her. 

As soon as she was alone, the girl read the 
letter carefully, then tore it into small pieces, 
chewed the pieces, and swallowed them. Soon 
a woman came to search her, but of course 
she found nothing, and Emily was released. 
She at once set off again. 

Late in the afternoon of the same day 
Emily was again arrested, this tim^e by 
some Tories. She was taken to a farmhouse 
and confined in a room by herself. About 
twelve o'clock at night the moon rose bright. 
All in the house except Emily were sound 
asleep. She contrived to open her window, 
and to get out of the house. She found a 
bridle, and in the lot she got her own horse. 
Without the saddle she mounted him, and 
succeeded in finding her way to the house of 
a patriot friend. It was scarcely day when 
she arrived. She explained her errand ; a 



192 PALMETTO STORIES 

hiimed breakfast was prepared, a fresli horse 
was saddled for her, and a guide was given 
her to show her a shorter and a safer way 
to Sumter's camp. 

After the guide had given her accurate 
directions, he left lier alone. She urged on 
her tired horse. In the afternoon she came 
up with some soldiers whom she knew to be 
Sumter's men. " Take me to General Sum- 
ter," she said eagerly ; " I have a message for 
him from General Greene." She was so tired 
that she could scarcely speak, yet she repeated 
to Sumter, almost word for word, the con- 
tents of the letter which she had destroyed. 

In an hour the patriot officer and his 
band were on the march to the point to 
which General Greene had directed him to 
come. At the same time a courier was sent 
to Marion to explain the change of plans of 
the Americans. How much was saved to the 
American army by brave Emily Geiger's ride, 
' we can only guess. 



ANOTHER BRAVE WOMAN 193 

In 1824 the distinguished Frenchman, La- 
fayette, who had fought on the American side 
in the Revolution, revisited the United States. 
It is said that on his visit to Charleston he 
met Emily at a ball, and danced with her. 
Her body lies buried in an obscure graveyard 
not far from Columbia. 



XXY. EMILY GEIGER'S RIDE 

(By F. Muench) 

At an early hour of a dawn in June, 
Still stood in the heavens the disk of moon ; 
A crowd was assembled in front of a cot, 
In a motley, half-anxious, half -curious knot 
Round a jet-black charger, all saddled for ride ; 
And they fondled his neck and they patted his side. 
Affectionately murm'ring : " Remember, good steed, 
This day a whole country depends on thy speed ! " 

The intelligent creature in mute reply 
Let sweep o'er the circle his faithful eye ; 
And eager to prove to the people his strength, 
Extended his forelegs their uttermost length. 
And seemed to express by his snuffing the air. 
By the strain of his muscles and nostrils' flare : 
" Be tranquil, good folks ! I shall prove by my deed 
That the country not vainly relied on my speed ! " 

The cottage door opened, and out on the scene, 
And led by the arm of General Greene, 
Came Emily Geiger, her thoughtful face 
Illumed by her mission's transfiguring rays. 

194 



EMILY GEIGEK's KIDE 195 

But he gave her a letter, and stroking her curls, 

He whispered: "God shield thee, thou bravest of 

girls ; 
Then he turned to the charger : " Remember, good 

steed, 
This day a whole country depends on thy speed ! " 

A kiss from her father, who lent her his aid 
To leap in the saddle ; a word from the maid, 
And forth plunged the charger witli all his might, 
And quickly had vanished with falcon's flight. 
Long harked yet the patriots to his gallop's report, 
Then turned to their task of bombarding the fort ; 
But they prayed the whole day : " Oh, haste thee, 

good steed ; 
This day a whole country depends on thy speed ! " 

In course as straight as a robin will soar 

To the north, when the winter's dominion is o'er. 

The maid in the meantime had followed the ridge 

That skirts the Saluda : once over the bridge, 

Her journey lay wholly in hostile domain, 

A region of warfare and party campaign ; 

So she called to her charger : " Now haste thee, good 

steed ! 
Tlie weal of a country depends on thy speed ! " 

A ride of five hours, and the Enoree lay. 
From mountain-rains swollen, across their way ; 



196 PALMETTO STORIES 

Every bridge washed away, every trace of a ford ; 
No ferry, no wherry to take them on board. 
Yet breasting the billows, they boldly defied 
The treacherous, turbulent, threatening tide, 
And landed in safety. " Now haste thee, my steed ! 
The weal of a country depends on thy speed ! " 

'Twas noon ! and from heaven the radiant sun 
Shot fiery beams, yet she slacked not her run 
As she wended her way through the Tyger's vale 
On a narrow, obstructed, old Indian trail. 
Her saddle here broke, but she flung it aside, 
And sitting now bareback, continued her ride. 
While urging her charger: "Now haste thee, my 

steed ! 
The weal of a country depends on thy speed ! " 

So riding, two Tories, their muskets in hand. 
Sprang forth from their ambush and brought her to 

stand. 
They asked her, unwilling her word to believe ; 
They ransacked her satchel, but failed to perceive 
How she swallowed the letter she bore at her heart. 
The search proving fruitless, they let her depart. 
Remounted she whispered: "Now haste thee, my 

steed ! 
The weal of a country depends on thy speed ! " 



EMILY GEIGER's RIDE 197 

V 

'Twas eve I in the tent-rows of Sumter's small camp, 
Sat his men round the fires, when a furious tramp 
Was heard of a sudden, and a charger flew past 
With the roar of a whirlwind and the pant of a 

blast ; 
His rider a maiden with wild-flowing hair, 
But lier visage illumed by a rapturous glare, 
As she called : " Yet one moment, one moment, my 

steed ; 
And saved is the country, yea! saved by thy 

speed I " 

Asking for Sumter, wherever she went. 
Scarce waiting for answer, she came to his tent. 
And spoke : " It is Greene who hath sent me ; his 

note 
I swallowed when waylaid, yet know what he 

Avrote — 
To give him a chance yet the fort to assail. 
Or else to retreat when his efforts should fail. 
He bids thee 'gainst Rawdon forthwith to proceed, 
For the weal of the country depends on thy speed ! " 

And Sumter believed her ; he gave the command 
Forthwith to assemble his mountaineer band ; 
And while the drums rattled, and the clarions blew. 
The maiden went out to her charger, and threw 



198 PALMETTO STORIES 

Her arms round his neck, exclaiming with joy : 

" Friend ! knowest what meaning these signals 

convoy ? 
The thanks of a country for thy valorous deed ; 
For saved is the country, yea ! saved by thy speed. " 



XXVI. THE WAR OF 1812 

After we gained our independence our 
relations with England were not very pleas- 
ant, and from 1783 until 1812 there was 
continual friction. Great Britain was sensi- 
tive over the loss of the American colonies, 
and had little love for the United States. 

The greatest annoyance to the United States 
came from the British war ships. These ves- 
sels often stopped our merchant ships at sea, 
and took from them such sailors as they chose, 
and forced them into the British service. This 
was called impressment, and the brutality often 
shown to the men thus forced into the British 
men-of-war was very great. England claimed 
that she was taking from our vessels only British 
sailors who had deserted from her war ships. 
Tlie fact is, many of the sailors on our vessels 

1U9 



200 PALMETTO STORIES 

had left the British service because of the 
poor pay aud the cruel treatment. But the 
British commanders took from our ships not 
only the English sailors but American sailors 
as well. We insisted on this being stopped, 
but England paid no attention to our demands. 

AYhat was to be done ? The United States 
Navy was a poor affair. In 1811, Paul Ham- 
ilton of South Carolina was Secretary of the 
Navy, and he gives a gloomy account of the 
situation. There were a half dozen frigates, 
and a few gunboats — all in bad order. Be- 
sides, the stores of ammunition were low. 

Congress would vote no money, and how 
was the United States to protect its seamen 
against England's thousand ships? In 1812 
Langdon Cheves, a member of Congress from 
South Carolina, offered a bill to appropriate 
from two million to ten million dollars to build 
a navy. This was considered so enormous a 
sum that it almost shocked the country to 
hear such a thing suggested. 



THE WAR OF 1812 



201 



Mr. Cheves, in an eloquent speech^ showed 
that it was for the best interests of the coun- 
try to build this navy. William Lowndes of 
South Carolina made a speech on the same 
subject. He 
showed how it was 
in the power of 
England, if we 
had no ships to 
oppose her, to 
blockade the city 
of New York, rain 
its commerce, and 
beggar the com- 
m u n i t y. He 
claimed that the 
government owed 
protection to its seaports, and that it should 
own a navy strong enough to give them pro- 
tection. 

The troubles between the two countries 
kept growing. In June, 1812, war against 




John C. Calhoun. 



202 PALMETTO STORIES 

Great Britain was declared. John C. Calhoun 
of South Carolina, and Henry Clay of Ken- 
tucky, became the leaders of the war party. 
The people in many sections of the Union 
opposed the war. Especially did New Eng- 
land oppose it. The merchants of that sec- 
tion were growing rich from the commerce 
with Europe, and they did not believe that 
the sufferings of a few seamen were worth 
a war. The open scorn of England and the 
scarcely veiled contempt of France were try- 
ing to the South Carolinians. 

For two years after war was declared 
things went on badly. For some time the 
English gave no trouble in the South. It 
was well for us that they did not attack 
our southern coast. General Thomas Pinckney 
did the best that could be done with a small 
number of troops. The assistance he received 
from the United States government amounted 
to very little. " No gunboats," Pinckney says, 
" for the protection of our harbors ; except 



THE WAR OF 1812 203 

Colonel Drayton at Charleston, not a single 
regular army officer above the grade of captain." 

Fortunately there were never any impor- 
tant actions on the South Atlantic coast. The 
British threatened the town of Beaufort, South 
Carolina, but our small force made the enemy 
believe that we had a much larger army than 
we really had, and they retreated. But as in 
the Revolution, they raided the plantations, 
took negro slaves and stock, and greatly ter- 
rified the citizens. 

In December, 1814, peace was declared. 
The United States had gained dignity in the 
eyes of the nations of EurojDe. Since that 
time proper respect has been shown the United 
States by all the nations of the Old World, and 
England has heartily taken the lead in doing so. 

AN ANECDOTE OF THE WAR 

During the war nearly all articles of com- 
merce became very costly. Flour sold at 
from ten to twelve dollars a barrel, and was 



204 PALMETTO STORIES 

very scarce at that price. Frugal housekeepers 
made their biscuits small. 

On one occasion the governor wished to 
send a letter to an officer in Edgefield. The 
letter was of too much importance to wait 
for the slow post, which brought letters only 
once a week. The governor sent one of his 
aides with the letter. The officer's wife asked' 
the aide to stay for dinner. 

The cook had the flour given to her by 
her mistress, who said to her : '' Make as many 
biscuits as you can out of the pint of flour." 

Dinner was announced. The biscuits were 
brought in and they were small. The aide 
had a good appetite, and the delicacy of the 
biscuits was fully enjoyed by him. He would 
take one almost at a mouthful, and then say 
to the servant waiting on tlie table, " Boy, 
hand me a biscuit." He was talking busily 
as he ate, and called "Boy, biscuit," until the 
little negro could stand no more. " Missus, he 
done et seben ! Mus' I gib him annudder ? " 



XXVII. THE BOAT CHASE 

A STORY OF THE WAR OF 1812 
(Adapted from John A. Stuart) 

" Strange," said the captain, sweeping the 
horizon with his spyglass, " that we see noth- 
ing of Trunkard and Hilton. Raise that pine 
sapling at the head, that they may be sure 
of us if they see us." 

A few minutes after this signal, a boat 
was seen outside the Bay Point surf, on the 
side next the sea, also carrying a pine sap- 
ling at her head. The boat came to the 
opposite point, then rowed swiftly back 
around the beach eastward, out of sight. 

Shortly afterward two men walked down 
to the Point, raised a sapling, planted it in 
the sand, then went back out of sight. 

'' Something wrong ! " said the captain. 

205 



206 PALMETTO STORIES 

'^ They saw us, have answered our signal, but 
cannot venture out. We must stop fishmg 
and go to them. In with your lines and up 
with your anchor ! " 

There was deep noontide stillness around, 
broken only by the noise of the boat on the 
waters. A brisk breeze from the southwest 
presently arose. The wind came in puffs; the 
clouds which had been gradually gathering in 
the south were extending their columns ; the 
frigate in the offing was scudding under 
shortened sails before the force of the gust. 
The whitecaps, and the breakers on the banks, 
began rearing their giant crests. 

Old Sam said quaintly, "Broad River is 
going to show himself, and he has put on his 
ruffle-shirt." 

The anchor was slipped, the boat trimmed, 
and as he was balancing his oar for the first 
stroke. Old Sam pointed astern and spoke : 
" Trouble coming ! Free Tony in de stern of 
dat boat, he make sign to me ! " 



THE BOAT CHASE 207 

The carrier boat, which had been anchored 
higher up, but out of hailing distance, was 
laboring against the tide to get down to the 
other boat. The negro at the helm pointed 
slyly to the marsh back of Bay Point, then 
to Paris Island, and lastly to the bottom of 
the boat. 

A cannon boomed heavily from the 
schooner, and with sails unfurled the vessel 
beat down the river. A long, dark boat shot 
rapidly out from the creek behind Bay Point 
Island, another came around the point of 
Paris' s bank. In the canoe, which was now 
Avithin musket-range of the first boat, about 
twenty men started up from their conceal- 
ment, and five or six sailors ran out the 
oars. Captain Willett and his crew saw that 
they Avere British. 

" We must make for Bay Point, or out to 
sea, as our only chance," said Willett, in a 
low voice as if to liimself. Then aloud to the 
crew in a cheerful voice : " Stretch to your 



208 PALMETTO STORIES 

oars, boys ! There's no danger ! Nothing this 
side of Helena can row with the Devilfish. 
Put it to her lustily, and give the rascals a 
wide wake of dead water ! " 

A volley of shot came to the Devilfish 
from the pursuers. Most of the bullets went 
over the heads of the crew ; a few splashed 
around the oars, or pattered against the side 
of the boat. One carried the hat of Maurice 
overboard. 

" Shall we get our guns ? " said William, 
eagerly. 

" No, not yet," returned the captain. " Un- 
case mine, but keep yours dry until we must 
use them." 

The enemy had a first-rate plantation boat, 
and were nearing the boat of the Carolinians, 
although with a rolling sound the oars rattled 
with rapid, regular strokes on the latter's 
gunwales. 

" Sit down, massa, for de Lord's sake ! " 
cried Sam, as the captain raised himself and 



THE BOAT CHASE 209 

stood at his full height. Without knowing 
his motives, the other Carolinians also rose. 

" Down with yon, boys ! You'll spoil the 
trim of the boat. Silence, Sam, and pull ! " 
commanded the captain, and then lowering 
his voice, said to James Stuart, the only other 
white man in the boat : " Our danger is, that 
the negroes may take a panic, and be good 
for nothing." 

Shot after shot followed in irregular snc- 
cession. "Sit down, sir," said Stuart, "you 
are hurt." 

" Only skin deep," replied the captain, 
showing his arm, which was grazed and bleed- 
ing a little. " Cut loose those fish from the 
side, Maurice and William," he said to the 
white lads ; " throw the rest of the fish over- 
board ! " " Mind your oars, boys ! " he said 
to the negroes. " Mind your oars and nothing 
else ; row deep, and don't catch crabs.^ You'll 
not be hit — they are firing at me over your 

^ To miss strokes in rowing. 
p 



210 PALMETTO STORIES 

heads. We hold way with them as the boat 
lightens. They don't gain on us now. Hand nie 
my gun ! James, put a ball into one barrel." 

He spoke quietly to the negroes : '' Now 
stop rowing a minute." He knelt on the 
seat^ took aim, fired, and the sailor at the 
leading oar of the pursuing boat fell back- 
ward, across the oar of the man next to him. 

^^ Now, Sam, get ready the foresail while 
they are getting to rights again," said the 
captain, coolly. " Load my gun again, James, 
and keep the lock covered with your handker- 
chief." 

" Trow away all de fish ? " asked Sam. 

The captain smiled. " No ; save six for 
ballast." '' Foot the mast there ! " he con- 
tinued ; " spreet the sail higher ! take the sheet 
rope, William ! and now good-by to them ! " 

The enemy also were salt-water veterans. 
The distance between the boats did not widen. 
Both boats, under oar and sail, bounded across 
the bay toward the sand bank on the bar. 



THE BOAT CHASE 211 

Another of the English boats was seen 
cuttma: across to head oft' the Carohnians 
from reaching Bay Point. A third had not 
yet joined in the chase, but had placed itself 
so as to intercept their return np Broad River, 
or toward Hilton's Head. The case of the 
Carolinians seemed desperate. Only Captain 
Willett made no sign of faltering. 

" Take the helm, James, and give me my 
o^un ag-ain ! " said Willett. He fired. The 
soldier who held the sheet rope of the canoe, 
after a short convulsion, was drawn overboard 
by the sail and dragged in the water. The 
rope uncoiled from aljout his waist, and the 
man went down. The sail swung loose, the 
boat gave a lurch to windward, took in 
water, and nearly upset. As she righted she 
struck her mast, and the soldiers leveled 
their muskets ; but the captain sent among 
them buckshot from his right-hand barrel, 
which spoiled their aim, and their shot went 
over the heads of the DeviJJisJis crew. Only 



212 PALMETTO STORIES 

William Dalton was hurt, — a flesh wound in 
his shoulder. 

William, in a rage, was imcasing his gun. 
" What are you about, William ? " asked the 
captain, as he took the helm. " We have 
had some revenge already; save your shot for. 
the tug ! Here ! case up my gun ; quick ! 
Look yonder ! " He pointed ahead of the 
boat. The clouds were arching up from the 
horizon, and moving rapidly in. The frigate, 
now entering the bay, vanished in the white 
mist. A squall was at hand. In a moment it 
was on the boats. A dense cloud of rain drove 
the Carolinians backward. The oars, now 
useless, were drawn in, and the boat steered 
before the gale. In the five minutes the 
gale lasted, the boat was driven a quarter 
of a mile toward the northwest bank, and a 
half mile seaward. 

As it cleared, the waves were higher than 
ever. The frigate had passed unseen, and was 
now discovered making up the bay northward. 



THE BOAT CHASE 213 

The farthest boat had vanished, but the other 
two were about the same distance away, and 
again began the chase. 

All depended now on rowing. Captain Wil- 
lett's crew made for the outer edge of the bank. 
After a hard struggle the Carolinians regained 
all lost ground, and were almost on the long 
line of breakers. Botli the English boats opened 
fire on the Carolinians. 

"Now, boys," said the captain, "for your 
last chance ! The sand can't have shifted much 
since last month, when I was here. If we 
strike, ship your oars, jump out, and shoulder 
the boat over the shoal before the next wave 
fills her. They wall scarcely follow here."' He 
steered at right angles to his former course, 
and straight for the reef. 

The captain's voice rang clear above the 
roar of the surf and the din of the breakers : 
" Bend to her with all your strength ; three 
good strokes — again ! again ! again 1 Now in 
with your oars ! " The Devilfish was lifted 



214 PALMETTO STORIES 

upon a surge so steep and high that, had the 
boat come fairly upon the shoal, it would have 
been shivered to pieces. 

The boldest man held his breath. The boat 
was swept beyond the shallow water, and the 
stern grated on the edge of the hard sand 
with a shock which made the timbers crack. 
The careful eye of the pilot had hit the only 
narrow strait through the long shoal. 

The boat went heavily into the deep basin. 
In an instant the oarsmen were again at work. 
William and Maurice bailed out the water, for 
the Devilfish had sprung a leak. It took all 
the skill of Captain Willett to steer with a 
broken oar in place of the rudder, which had 
been lost in the dash. 

The British keel-boat had to give up the 
chase. But the other boat, to the surprise of 
the Carolinians, made a bold dash, and by 
good fortune gauged the height of the tide 
and got through the dangerous channel with 
less damage than the Devilfish had suffered. 



THE BOAT CHASE 215 

"My life on it," said Willett, 'there's an 
islander in that boat! No other man would 
have dared it. See that our guns are dry. 
We shall need them. Only keep at long shot 
until we gain the beach. We can land, and 
let them do what they please with our shat- 
tered canoe." 

After zigzagging some time between the 
banks, the Carolinians knew that the chance 
for escape was better. Only a single enemy 
was now in their wake. The boatmen were 
not fagged, but rather invigorated by the ex- 
citement. They gave a saucy whoop, threw 
their right arms in the air, bent forward, and 
gave full sweep to their oars. The pursuing 
boat pressed forward, and sent shot after shot 
after the Carolinians. 

The Devilfish reached first the channel be- 
tween the shoal and the beach, and went 
through like a shot. It was so narrow that 
the spray from the breakers on opposite sides 
of the boat met above the heads of the men. 



216 PALMETTO STORIES 

"Now stop rowing/' said the captain; "we'll 
give them a point-blank salute with buckshot, 
and then land through the surf. See to your 
flints and priming." 

Sam drew from its concealment a long mus- 
ket, which he had wrapped in his greatcoat 
and tied up in an unused sail. 

" Captain Willett," said Maurice, " shall I 
shoot at the oarsmen ? " 

" No, not at them. You and William and 
Sam aim into the crowd astern. James and I 
will pay our respects to the three Redcoats in 
the bows. Wait for the word ! But see 
there ! See on the beach !' " 

The crew of the Devilfish gave a cheer as 
three white men and three negroes rushed down 
the beach from the dead pines. These six men 
waded waist deep into the water and fired into 
the British boat while she was laboring mid- 
way in the strait behind the Carolinians. 

"There are Hilton and Trunkard. Nobly 
done ! " shouted Willett, waving his hat to 



THE BOAT CHASE 217 

them. " Now for it ! Back water^, larboard 
oars ! Round with her, starboard oars ! Now 
pull away, all hands, and upon them ! That 
will do. Steady her so. Aim well, boys, 
and — fire .' " 

The crew shot with good aim, Sam's musket 
sending a hailstorm of leaden slugs. This was 
followed by a cross-fire from the allies of the 
Carolinians on the shore. 

The British were not inactive. James Stuart 
was w^ounded in the side. The fire from the 
shore disconcerted the British ; but, above all, 
the four black oarsmen on the British boat 
leaped overboard, thus deserting the English- 
men. They came swimming for land, saying, 
" We can't stan' dis any longer." The remain- 
ing sailors could hardly keep the boat from 
being swamped in the surf. The British there- 
fore put back, and were in full retreat and out 
of reach before Captain Willett and his men 
could reload their guns for a second fire at 
their enemies. 




Calhoun Monument, Mauion Square, Charleston. 



XXVIII. JOHN C. CALHOUN 



Among the public men of the United 
States there is no more majestic figure than 
John Caldwell Calhoun. He was a man of 
fine mental powers, of noble ambition, and of 
stainless character. For forty years he gave 
himself to the service of his country. 

Calhoun was of Irish descent and was born 
in Abbeville county, near the close of the 
Revolution. In his boyhood there were few 
good schools in the interior of the state. 

218 



JOHN C. CALHOUN 219 

Therefore his early schooling was limited ; but 
whenever he had the opportanity, he read the 
best books to be had. When John was yet a 
mere boy his father died, leaving the family 
in moderate comfort. From his foiu'teenth 
year till he was seventeen he attended to his 
mother's plantation. 

While he was engaged on the plantation, 
an elder brother made a visit to the family. 
The brother was so struck with John's in- 
telligence and information that he suggested 
his entering a profession. " No," said the 
young man ; " I have not enough education 
and very little property. I would rather stay 
on as I am, and be a well-informed farmer 
than to be a half-informed lawyer or doctor." 
But the elder brother told him that he would 
arrange to furnish him with money enough 
for his education. '^ Mother would not be 
willing to spare me from the farm," replied 
John. This objection, too, the brother over- 
came, and got the mother's consent to her 



220 PALMETTO STORIES 

young son going to school, and afterward to 
his attending college. 

He entered the academy of his distinguished 
kinsman. Dr. Moses Waddel. He remained 
here two years, then entered the junior class 
at Yale. He was graduated from Yale with 
high honors. Next he studied law for 
three years. Seven years was the length of 
time he had planned to give to the prepara- 
tion of himself for his work in life. 

He settled in Abbeville for the practice of 
his profession. Within less than a year he 
was sent to the state legislature ; two years 
later he was sent to the United States Con- 
gress. There his ability was soon recognized. 

In Congress he was the warm supporter of 
the War of 1812. The governor of New York 
wrote to President Madison that his state's 
troops were so dissatisfied at not being paid, that 
he must have money for them, otherwise the 
war would end in British victory. The Presi- 
dent was disheartened. His Secretary of War, 



JOHN C. CALHOUN 221 

George M. Dallas, said to him : " Mr. Madison, 
you are not well ; go and rest. I shall send 
for the youthful Hercules (Mr. Calhoun), who 
has all along borne the war on his shoulders." 

After six years' service in Congress, Calhoun 
was made Secretary of War by President 
Monroe. The department was in utter confu- 
sion, the debts against it amounting to more 
than forty million dollars. He soon mastered 
the work. He cut down the expenses, and in 
seven years reduced the debt to three millions. 
The United States Military Academy at West 
Point was remodeled and started on a new life. 

Calhoun was Vice President during the ad- 
ministration of John Quincy Adams and also 
in the first administration of Andrew Jackson. 
He was Secretary of State under John Tyler. 
A large part of his work was done in the 
United States Senate. He was a member of 
that body at the time of his death in 1850. 
His last speech to that body was delivered 
after he was too feeble to stand. His friend, 



222- 



PALMETTO STORIES 



Mr. Mason, read it to the Senate and the 
crowded galleries, while Calhoun sat in his 
accustomed seat. The scene was a memorable 
one. Eighteen days later Calhoun was dead. 
He was buried in Charleston. In Marion 
Square in that city stands a tall shaft at the 




The Calhoun Homestead, Fort Hill. 

top of which is a statue to the memory of 
South Carolina's most distinguished son. 

Calhoun's old homestead, Fort Hill, is now 
included in the grounds of Clemson College. 



XXIX. LANGDON CHEVES 

One of " the bright galaxy," as the repre- 
sentatives in Congress from South Carolina 
during the War of 1812 were called, was 
Langdon Cheves. His name stands out as an 
example of how in a rejjublic a man can rise 
from lowly origin to high rank. 

The father of Langdon Cheves was an 
Indian trader to the Cherokee nation. His 
mother was a strong-minded, good woman 
from whom the son inherited his talents. She 
died while he was quite young. His father 
married again, and after the Revolution 
went to Charleston to live. The son while 
a mere lad was a salesman in a shop. One 
day in passing the county court house, his 
ear caught the sound of a lawyer j)leading a 
case. The boy stopped, and went in to hear 

223 



224 PALMETTO STORIES 

the speech. He was so impressed that he 
made up his mind to be a lawyer. His 
friends advised him against this decision. 

Young Cheves had already acquired habits 
of industry. As a hired boy plowing in the 
fields, or as a salesman in the shop, he was 
hard-working, faithful, and systematic. He 
had shown special aptness in trade and in 
bookkeeping. For these reasons his friends 
tried to dissuade him from entering a pro- 
fession. 

One friend remarked : " You would succeed 
as a merchant, and you might accumulate a 
fortune of thousands of dollars." We should 
like to know what this friend thought years 
afterward, when Langdon Cheves' s income from 
his profession was twenty thousand dollars a 
year. 

He studied law in the office of Mr. 
Marshall, the man whose speech had so at- 
tracted him. He was a diligent student, and 
it soon became known that his learning and 



LANGDON CHEVES 225 

his knowledge of law were profound. Of 
course he did not enter at once into a large 
and profitable practice. He had to build it 
up. But his straight-forward character so 
impressed all who had dealings with him that 
success soon came. It was not unusual to 
hear such remarks as this : " If you have a 
worthy case, take it to Cheves ; if an un- 
worthy one, take it to some one else." 

Cheves was elected to the state legislature. 
There he seemed a grave and distant man. 
Later he was elected to Congress. There, with 
such men as Lowndes, he was a genial com- 
panion. Cheves himself used to tell that 
when it was announced in 1812 that war had 
been declared, Lowndes, Calhoun, Clay, and 
lie joined hands and danced a four-hand reel 
in their delight. 

Soon after Mr. Cheves entered the House 
of Representatives, he made a strong speech 
on the subject of the war. The speech won 
laurels for his party, and gave it an influence 

Q 



226 PALMETTO STORIES 

that it had not known before. He was made 
Speaker of the House, but after the war ended 
he declined a reelection to Congress. 

While in Congress he had opposed the re- 
chartering of the Bank of the United States. 
But the ]:)ank was re-chartered and later 
Cheves was called to its 23residency. Here he 
made a fine record. He was an excellent 
financier. A speech of his on merchants' 
bonds showed so profound and clear knowl- 
edge of finance that it attracted much atten- 
tion to him. Washington Irving said of this 
speech : ^' It Avas the only speech I ever heard 
wbich gave me an idea of the ancient elo- 
quence of the Greeks and Romans." 

Hard and constant work was the motto of 
Cheves's life. When a young man he said : '^ I 
work that I may rest." In the latter part of 
his life he lived at ease, and enjoyed the for- 
tune and the honors gained by the exertion of 
his earlier days. 



XXX. WILLIAM LOWNDES 

Heis^ry Clay, the great statesman, in his old 
age said to Mr. Lee of Maryland : " It is hard 
for nie to decide who Avas the greatest states- 
man I ever knew; but I think the wisest was 
William Lowndes of South Carolina." Mr. 
Clay had known personally all the men in 
public life in the United States for forty 
years. 

Another man who knew Mr. Lowndes said 
of him: ^" If the nation were in peril, I believe 
that the majority of the jDeople of the United 
States would intrust the country to the guar- 
dianship of William Lowndes." 

Mr. Lowndes died before he had completed 
his forty-first year ; yet at that early age he 
had been in the United States Congress more 
than ten years. 

227 



228 PALMETTO STORIES 

He was the son of the peppery old man, 
Kawlins Lowndes, who was governor of South 
Carohna durhig the Revolution and who so 
strongly opposed the adoj)tion of the Consti- 
tution of the United States. William was fifty 
years younger than his father, but the young, 
delicate boy was his father's constant com- 
panion. His schooling was at the academy of 
a Dr. Gallagher, in Charleston. When the boy 
was fifteen, the preceptor said to the father : 
" William has learned all I can teach him ; 
really, he is ahead of me." The delicacy of the 
lad's health made his parents afraid to send 
him to England to finish his education. He 
read at home the best books and finally de- 
cided to study law. 

Before he was twenty he fell in love with 
Elizabeth Pinckney, the daughter of Tliomas 
Pinckney. The elder Lowndes and Mr. Pinck- 
ney were in different political parties, and a 
marriage between their children was not 
agreeable to either family. But as usual, 



WILLIAM LOWNDES 229 

the young people had their way, and w^ere 
married. 

Not long after the marriage, Mrs. Lowmdes 
was writing in her father's library. Mr. 
Pinckney was walking the floor. Presently he 
asked : " What are you writing, my daughter ? " 
" Recipes from Grandmother Motte's book," she 
replied. " Very good ! " answered her father ; 
"but I advise you to study the plantation 
books also and to learn to keep your husband's 
accounts. Before many years your husband will 
be called to public life; the country will demand 
his services. The private affairs of a man in 
public life must suffer. You must learn to 
manage your husband's business for him." 

Mr. Pinckney was not mistaken. At twenty- 
four years of age young Lowndes was sent to 
the state legislature. At that time a district, 
or county, sent representatives to the legisla- 
ture in proportion to its wealth — not its popu- 
lation, as now. Negroes were property, and 
there were many more of them in the lower 



230 PALMETTO STOUIES 

counties of the state than in the upper counties. 
This made the representation from the coast 
districts much larger than that from the upper 
districts. The silent negro vote, as it was called, 
made much jealousy between the two sections 
of the state. Lowndes saw at once how un- 
fortunate it was to have this jealousy between 
the two sections. He drafted a bill changing 
the plan of representation. The legislature 
passed it, and the law remained in force until 
the slaves became free. 

In 1811, when twenty -nine years of age, 
Lowndes was sent to Congress. He, John C. 
Calhoun, and Langdon Cheves made a strong 
trio. They were one in heart for the honor 
of the nation. 

Mr. Lowndes would never enter a caucus.^ 
'^1 will give my views to the House," he said, 
when asked to go into one. In his speeches he 
never descended to personalities or to sarcasm. 

^ Caucus liere means uniting of political managers for the 
purpose of deciding upon a line of policy for their party. 



WILLIAM LOWNDES 231 

He made it a rule never to reply to attacks 
made on him ; he brushed them aside and 
spoke on matters of public interest. 

Before Lowndes reached the full measure of 
a useful life, his health, which was always deli- 
cate, gave way completely. He went on a 
sea voyage. A few days after he sailed " the 
great Lowndes passed away," and his body 
was buried in the Atlantic. 

Mr. Taylor, a member of Congress from New 
York, said on hearing of Lowndes's death: ''This 
is the greatest bereavement, in the loss of a 
citizen, which has befallen the Union since I 
have had a seat in its councils. The highest 
and best hopes of this country looked to Wil- 
liam Lowndes for fulfillment." " There was 
but one thing of which Lowndes was igno- 
rant," said another colleague, — "the magnitude 
of his own powers." 



XXXI. THE PALMETTO REGIMENT 

Although Texas was a part of Mexico, 
many people from the United States had 
made Texas their home. These peo23le grew 
dissatisfied with the rule of Mexico. There- 
fore they declared themselves independent of 
Mexico and in 1836 set up a government of 
their own. War followed. After a number 
of bloody battles and some massacres of the 
Texans, General Sam Houston defeated the 
Mexicans. 

Texas wished to become one of the United 
States and asked admission to the Union. It 
was admitted in 1845, although Mexico had 
not acknowledged its independence. War be- 
tween the United States and Mexico soon 
followed. 

In 1846 the President of the United States 

232 




Monument to the Palmetto Regiment, Columbia. 



THE PALMETTO REGIMENT 235 

called for volunteers from each state. In less 
than four weeks a regiment of a thousand 
men was raised in South Carolina. It was 
called the Palmetto Regiment, and it acted 
well its part in the war. 

It was December, 1846, when the regiment 
left the state. David Johnson was then gov- 
ernor. The law of South Carolina then did 
not permit the governor to go outside the 
state. Governor Johnson went with the 
troops as far as Hamburg, and at the bridge 
crossing the Savannah River to Georgia, told 
them good-by. 

The governor said : " South Carolinians, as 
your commander-in-chief I have gone to the 
last boundary of the state, — would that the law 
permitted me to go farther. With unfaltering 
trust I place the honor of the state in your 
hands. I do not fear for the Palmetto Regi- 
ment. I know that the flag which you bear 
will never trail in the dust. I have unbounded 
faith that our state flag, borne for the first 



236 PALMETTO STORIES 

time in a foreign war, will be returned with- 
out a stain of dishonor on its folds. I commit 
to your keeping the name and honor of South 
Carolina, and I commend each one of you to 
the keeping of the God of battles." 

In close column, platoons of six marched by. 
Each platoon halted before the governor, who, 
with tears rolling down his cheeks, clasped 
the hand of every man of the regiment. As 
he said farewell to the last man, the governor 
paused for a moment, and then gave the 
order : " Forward ! March ! " And the Palmetto 
Regiment went out to glory. 

Sickness attacked the men when in Mexico. 
Not fewer than two hundred died and were 
buried in Pueblo. 

In battle, too, the loss was great. At Cliu- 
rubusco the loss was one hundred and thirty- 
seven men. At the city of Mexico the loss 
was greater by a hundred men than that of 
any other regiment in the United States army. 

Writing to General Shields, Colonel Pierce 



THE PALMETTO REGIMENT 237 

Butler said : " The Palmetto Regiment de- 
mands a place in the picture ! " Said Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Dickinson, "We will follow 
you to the death!" "Ay, to the death!" 
cried out young Whitfield Brooks, a private in 
the ranks. And the brave youth sealed liis 
words with his blood and laid down his life. 
Colonel Butler and Lieutenant Colonel Dick- 
inson were killed, and Major Gladden was badly 
wounded. One third of the regiment did not 
live to come back to South Carolina. At 
Churubusco, Chapultepec, and the City of 
Mexico the first American flag planted on 
the field of victory was the banner of the 
Palmetto Regiment. 



XXXII. BUTLER AND THE PALMETTO 

REGIMENT 

(By Rev. A. H. Lester) 

I SAAV a band of heroes brave — 

Palmetto was its sacred name — 
Go forth to seek the conqueror's grave, 

Or reap the conqueror's deathless fame. 
I saw with tender feeling swell 
Each bosom as they breathed " Farewell, 
My native land ! " and the tear-drops fell 

From every eye : 
But when they turned their feet from home. 
Then shrieked the fife and pealed the drum. 
And rang the deafening shout, " O come 
Death or Victory ! " 

Their flag on high is wide unfurled. 

And onward is the signal given. 
With shivering clash their arms are hurled, 

And death before their ranks is driven. 

238 



BUTLER AND THE PALMETTO REGIMENT 239 

Amid the thundering cannon's roar, 
'Mid curling smoke and streaming gore, 
When death-shots on them thickest pour, 

I hear a voice : 
''On to the charge ! " he boldly cries, 
" On where immortal glory lies I 
E'en now bright victory greets our eyes. 

Onward ! brave boys ! " 

'Tis Butler ! at whose moving words 
The stoutest heart fresh courage takes ; 

The roar of guns or clash of swords 
His fearless soul more fearless makes. 

As on they charge — that Spartan Band 

Fall thick and fast on every hand, 

Yet firmly, nobly do they stand. 
Though few remain. 

The Stars and Stripes at length prevail. 

Their folds triumphant kiss the gale. 

But victory shouts the horrid tale 

" Brave Butler's slain ! " 



He died indeed a hero's death — 
He fell twice wounded to the field. 

Exclaiming with his latest breath 
" O never, never basely yield ! " 



240 PALMETTO STORIES 

Sleep on, Carolina's boasted son ! 
On earth thy glorious course is run ! 
Thy noble work was nobly done, 

And thine is fame : 
Though thou art dead, thy deeds shall live 
Our highest tribute to receive. 
And thousands yet unborn shall give 

Praise to thy name. 







Mansion-house, Mount Vernon. 



XXXIII. x\NN PAMELA CUNINGHAM 

There are only two homes of great men 
that belong to the nation at large. These are 
Arlington, the home of Lee, owned by the 
Federal Government and used as a cemetery 
for United States soldiers, and Mount Vernon, 
the home of Washington. The latter was 
purchased by an association of women organ- 
ized by Miss Pamela Cuningham of Laurens 
County, South Carolina. 

R 241 



242 PALMETTO STORIES 

Mount Vernon is not only an interesting, but 
a very beautiful, place. The old mansion-house, 
the barn, the garden with its walks, are all 
just as they were when the great Washington 
used them. On a hillside near the house is 
the tomb of Washington, which is visited by 
thousands of people every yeat. 

About fifty years ago John Augustine 
Washington owned the property. He an- 
nounced that he would sell it. Beautiful 
Mount Vernon would either go to ruin, or fall 
into the hands of speculators. This thought 
put the brain of a South Carolina woman to 
work. Washington's home must be preserved ! 

Ann Pamela Cuningham was a woman of 
strong faith and firm courage. She wished to 
make Mount Vernon the property of the nation. 
Her mother suggested the idea of forming an 
organization for the purchase of the home by 
the women of our country. 

Miss Cuningham was an invalid, but she 
had brain, energy, and resource. She re so- 



ANN PAMELA CUNINGHAM 24o 

lutely began writing articles for the news- 
papers and the magazines. These articles 
were signed " The Southern Matron." By 
private correspondence she enlisted the in- 
terest of influential 
men and women 
throughout the 
country. 

Within five years 
from the time she 
began her work the 
Mount Yernon 
Ladies' Association 
had been organized, 
and in 185G the 

association was in- Ann Pamela Cuningham. 

corporated by the Virginia legislature. The 
association paid $200,000 for the property. 

Miss Cuningham was made the first Re- 
gent of the association. This was a fitting 
recognition of her faithful and patriotic 
labors. In the association there is a board 




244 PALMETTO STORIES 

of Vice Regents selected to represent the dif- 
ferent states. Each room in the old mansion- 
house is assigned to some state. 

The family dining room is assigned to 
South Carolina. The room is furnished in 
the style of the Washington period. In addi- 
tion to the articles of furniture, there are on 
the walls portraits of Marion, Pickens, Sumter, 
and Moultrie. On one of the walls is a fine 
portrait of Miss Cuningham, painted by 
Lambdin of Philadelphia. 

Every year, in May, the Regent and the 
Vice Regents of the Mount Vernon Association 
meet at Mount Vernon to transact the busi- 
ness of the estate and to see that it is prop- 
erly cared for by the superintendent who 
represents them. 



STORIES OF CALIFORNIA 

BY 

ELLA M. SEXTON 

With many illustrations 

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"As a concise and interesting history of California, it 
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explain in some degree the remarkable physical character- 
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unfold to children and their parents the life of bygone 
days."— 7%^ Outlook. 



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c/l Reading Book of Science for American Boys 
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